Preston No.1 Dan is keen to be the man next time he is put on the spot for North End

The Preston goalkeeper could have had two clean sheets in his last two matches against Blackburn Rovers on Friday night and Watford in midweek.

In open play neither side could find their way past the big Dane, who is on loan at Deepdale from parent club Leicester City.

Unfortunately, he found himself picking the ball out of the net after being beaten from 12 yards in both matches.

Adam Armstrong was on the spot for Rovers just before half-time at Ewood Park, but ultimately the home side ended up on the losing side as PNE ran out 2-1 winners thanks to first-half strikes from Greg Cunningham and Liam Lindsay.

While that spot-kick did not prove costly for Alex Neil’s men in the derby encounter, the penalty they conceded against Watford at Deepdale did.

Tom Barkhuizen’s trip on Joao Pedro shortly after the interval saw the Brazilian pick himself up and break the deadlock from 12 yards.

The successful conversion proved to be the winning goal for the Championship high-flyers.

Frustratingly for Iversen he picked the right way to dive for both penalties – indeed Pedro’s effort was within his grasp, the pace on the ball just enough to beat him.

“I will have to start to save some penalties,” said Iversen.

“It was disappointing. Probably on a good day, I would have saved the one against Watford.

“I was a little bit disappointed about it but that’s the way it is sometimes with penalties.

“We do research penalties before games – myself and Polly (goalkeeper coach Mike Pollitt).

“We look at the statistics but you can’t always use the stats on every occasion, sometimes you have to feel the situation.”

While Iversen was unhappy to concede the penalties, he was brimming with pride at the wonder save he produced against Rovers.

Armstrong almost made it 2-2 on the stroke of half-time when he diverted Jarrad Branthwaite’s left-wing centre goalwards.

Somehow, the big Dane flung himself down low to his right and clawed the ball away for a corner.

“To be fair I don’t think I have come back down again after that save,” he said with a wry smile.

“It’s one of those saves that you don’t realise how you did it.

“You just try to do something and you end up saving it.”

Iversen came to North End early in the January window – his arrival something of a necessity after regular No.1 Declan Rudd suffered cartilage damage. He was one of eight new signings last month, while eight players went out of the exit door.

In his first match – a 2-0 defeat at Bristol City – the defensive line-up consisted of Darnell Fisher, Andrew Hughes, Paul Huntington and Ben Davies.

Contrast that with the game in midweek, only Hughes remained from that quartet as Iversen had Alan Browne, Jordan Storey and fellow new boy Liam Lindsay in front of him.

“This is football,” he said. “There are always changes – players come in and players go.

“As footballers we know this happens but I think we have reorganised really well the last couple of games and we have defended well.”

Iversen is expected to be between the sticks for the trip to Cardiff City this weekend, but would he like to turn his loan stay with the club into something more permanent?

“I don’t really want to think about that,” he said. “I am playing here right now and this is what I am concentrating on.

“When we come to the summer we will see what Leicester think of my performances.

“If I have to go out on loan again or they want to keep me there, I don’t really know. I am playing here at Preston right now and that’s all I am concentrating on.”