Preston North End captain closing in on Paul Gallagher in PNE appearances list

Browne pulled on a PNE shirt for the 307th time in the derby defeat to Blackburn.

It pulled him level with Francis Burns – a key figure in the 1977/78 Third Division promotion-winning side – in the list of appearance makers at Deepdale.

First-team coach Gallagher is the next player for Browne to catch.

Gallagher played 313 times for North End before hanging up his boots in the summer to concentrate on coaching.

That is a number which 26-year-old Browne could match early in the new year.

He recently overtook team-mate Paul Huntington who has played 305 games.

Browne has rediscovered his form in recent weeks after a sticky start to the season.

Playing in his favoured attacking midfield role has helped, while he is coping better from a fitness point of view following hip surgery in the summer.

A red card for two cautions late in the defeat to Blackpool was a sore point – and a low point – for him but he has bounced back.

His drive on the pitch will be needed in the coming matches as PNE look to string a run of positive results together after the yo-yo form of late.

Browne spoke to North End’s iFollow after the Rovers defeat and his frustration was there to see.

He felt the Lilywhites had mastered the conditions well but that was to count for nothing as Blackburn took their chance to score the winner with Ben Brereton Diaz’s header.

Browne told iFollow “You’ve just got to play the game and it was a horrible game.

“I thought we played it well but results are what matter and that’s what’s going to get us up the league.

“We’re up and down and I feel like a few wins under our belt would get us right there, but when it comes to that all-important game, we let ourselves down time and time again.

“It’s just not good enough. I think we probably could have put a bit more pressure on them but I think it was consistent throughout the game.

“We limited them to one chance basically and I know we didn’t create too many clear-cut chances, but we had plenty of opportunities to put a decent ball in the box having worked it well.”

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