Preston North End manager's Championship position target ahead of Millwall's visit to Deepdale

The Lilywhites face Millwall at Deepdale today (3pm) before travelling to Fulham on Tuesday night for the second part of their Easter programme.

Lowe’s focus is on a strong finish to the campaign to provide the platform for much better in 2022/23.

His side sit 13th going into Millwall’s visit, the position they ended last season in. So pushing up and possibly breaking into the top 10 is something PNE manager Lowe would like to see.

Four of the remaining five games are against sides who have an interest in the play-offs or automatic promotion, with the other being the Gentry Day clash with Barnsley – a side who look to be fighting a losing battle against relegation.

So it’s all to play for in the remaining three weeks and Lowe has challenged the players not to let the season drift.

Lowe said: “In the table at the moment we are on par with West Bromwich Albion and Stoke, teams like that.

"We are on par with them because we have found a way to win games of football and we’ve got some quality players.

“In terms of size and stature, the fact clubs like that have been in the Premier League, it’s a different league – we are miles apart on budget.

"But we don’t care about budgets, who has the most money, who has the most fans. We are Preston North End and we go about our business the way we should.

"If we can get a top-10 finish that would be an achievement but it’s only a small achievement, I want to be finishing in the top six where you are potentially only three games away from the Premier League.”

Who partners Cameron Archer up front this afternoon will be of a great interest to the PNE supporters.

Emil Riis came off with a hamstring injury last week and it would take some going to be fit by now.

Sean Maguire replaced Riis just before half-time against QPR, him and Archer linking well. Ched Evans also comes back into the equation having recovered from a toe injury suffered at Derby a fortnight ago.

Maguire did his chances of a start no harm in that substitute’s run, while Evans would offer a physical presence against Millwall’s three-man defence.

Brad Potts and Josh Earl are back in the fold after a stomach bug forced them to miss the QPR game.

Look back to PNE’s meeting with Millwall at Deepdale in January 2006