Preston North End midfielder Ryan Ledson recognises the importance of following up the midweek victory against QPR

This month they’ve brought back six points from the capital, to add to the one gathered from the trip to Norwich in September.

They are back on the road on Saturday, making the hop over the Pennines to face Huddersfield – a much shorter journey than their three league road trips to date.

The vast difference in PNE’s home and away form is not lost on midfielder Ryan Ledson.

He has been one of the stars of the show when it comes to the away form, his battling qualities and decent use of the ball on show in Wednesday night’s 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers.

“I wish we could play in London every week because of how we’ve done there recently,” said Ledson.

“There’s something about London that I love, all the lads enjoy it when we go down there.

“Our away form is a lot better than the home form at the moment.

“Ideally we want to keep the away form going and bring the form at Deepdaled up to scratch.

“Things can change but at the moment the focus is on going to Huddersfield and trying to get three points over there.”

The win at QPR came 17 days after a 4-2 victory down the road at Brentford.

While North End had to battle back from being 2-0 down to the Bees, against QPR they pretty much controlled play from the midway point of the first half.

They pressed and harried their hosts at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, Daniel Johnson and Scott Sinclair both scoring penalties. Ledson said: “We needed three points after the Cardiff defeat, so we were all made up.

“Our set-up at QPR was brilliant. We find that when teams want to play out from the back, that is our bread and butter.

“We sniff danger out, win the ball back, and have lads in midfield and attack who will get after the ball.

“I feel that when teams sit off us and we have to play a bit, that is when we can get caught out.

“You could say that QPR played right into our hands.”

Playing up the pitch from Ledson in the midweek win was Emil Riis, the striker having been given his first PNE start by Alex Neil.

It is fair to say that the Danish frontman caught Ledson’s eye.

“Emil was absolutely brilliant wasn’t he?” said the former Everton and Oxford United man.

“I thought he was strong, good on the ball and could run behind.

“I’m not going to say that is what we’ve been missing but Emil gave us some good options and it was some performance for his first Championship start – long may that continue.

“He’s settled in well with us, even though he was with Denmark in the international break.

“Training is intense here and he’s probably thought he needed to fit in with that.”

This is by far Ledson’s best run and most productive spell in his 28 months at Preston.

He has started 11 of the last 12 league games, that sequence going back to the 0-0 draw at Huddersfield in July which fell during the restart period.

Before that, any kind of lengthy run had evaded him, due to others getting in the side or indeed by suspension – he got two red cards in his first season.

Given the ‘8’ role which allows him to push forward more than when asked to shield the defence, Ledson has flourished.

The 23-year-old now has his sights set on facing Huddersfield and expects a far different game to the drab draw the last time PNE were in Yorkshire.

Said Ledson: “We need points. Huddersfield have ben a lot better this season than they were last year.

“At their place they sat off us and played for a draw but that won’t be the case on Saturday, it will be a high-tempo game and high pressing game.”