Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe is keeping an eye on the Championship's play-off places

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe has admitted to having a quick glance up at the play-off positions but says now is not the time to be thinking about the top six.
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Although the Lilywhites are back in 11th place, they are only four points shy of Middlesbrough who occupy the last play-off slot.

The teams in the pack just behind the top six all have games in hand on PNE too.

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However, with five wins, five draws and one defeat in Lowe’s 11 Championship games in charge, they are a team in decent form.

Preston North End manager Ryan LowePreston North End manager Ryan Lowe
Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe

Lowe said: “I would be foolish to say I wasn’t having a quick look at the play-offs.

“I certainly know where we are in the division and how many points we have got.

“There are so many good teams there or thereabouts and we have to make sure we keep winning games of football and keep collecting points.

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“If we got to eight, nine or 10 games to go and we are still in and around it, you are going to have a little look and push for it.

Cameron Archer celebrates scoring Preston North End's winner at PeterboroughCameron Archer celebrates scoring Preston North End's winner at Peterborough
Cameron Archer celebrates scoring Preston North End's winner at Peterborough

“We can’t get too carried away, we had a good win on Saturday at Peterborough in difficult conditions and now we have to prepare to move on to the next one.

“After this free midweek, we go Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday again, so there’s a lot of hard work to be done.”

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Cameron Archer got PNE’s winner at Peterborough, netting his third goal in six games since signing from Aston Villa on loan.

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All three have come on the road and the 20-year-old now has two games coming up at Deepdale to hopefully get among the goals.

Lowe says Villa will monitor Archer throughout his time at PNE, as they would do with any player who goes out on loan.

“They are comfortable with us having Cameron or they wouldn’t have let him come here,” said Lowe.

“We will do all the stuff that we need to do for Villa to monitor him. I’m sure they will have people at games watching him.

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“They know he’s in good hands, he’s scoring goals and we’ll have a chat with them when we need to.

“Villa trust him with us, we respect that and we’ll work hard with him to make sure he scores more goals.”