Preston North End player column: Alan Browne on a 'strange' Christmas for PNE and scoring for the first time this season

Most clubs have had a game postponed at some point in the last couple of weeks, either because there were cases of Covid in their squad or in the squad of the team they were meant to be playing.

Once you saw the virus hit a couple of squads, it was only a matter of time before others would be affected.

In some ways it might be good that we took a big hit like this, that clubs have had it at roughly the same time.

Hopefully we can all get back to playing football and the games can be played without any restrictions being placed on them.

We came back to training last Thursday after the place had been shut down for a week following some positive cases here.

It was good to see the lads again and hopefully we won’t have any further disruption.

I used the time off over Christmas to spend time with my family and I made the most of that.

Having young children, it was the usual chaos but was very enjoyable.

The return to training has seen us focus on the Stoke game and it’s one we are all looking forward to.

Our record down there in recent seasons has been quite good and something which sticks in the memory is the big followings we’ve had – as Monday’s will be.

Hopefully we can go to Stoke and get a good result, play in the style that the new gaffer wants us to.

The Covid break didn’t come at the best time for him. We’d won his first game in charge and he would have been looking forward to trying to build on that.

The manager has still been able to talk to us during the break, explain what he wants to do.

So with a few days of training under our belts, we’ll be looking to get out there and carry on where we left off.

In the last game against Barnsley, I scored my first goal of the season – talk about it being overdue.

That game was a fresh start for everyone and I was determined to take any chances will came my way.

I’d been talking for a few weeks about the need to be back among the goals, I knew it wasn’t good that I hadn’t scored this season.

The goal I scored started with Dan Iversen at the back and the ball was worked to Daniel Johnson.

I thought DJ showed exceptional composure as he carried the ball up the pitch and then Emil Riis made a great run off the ball to take a defender away and open up some space for me.

When DJ played me in, it was just a case of keeping my cool and picking my spot.

If I hadn’t have scored from that position, I’d have been kicking myself. So to see the ball go in was a great relief.

I didn’t realise at the time that it was my first from open play for Preston since Boxing Day last year at Derby. That is pretty shocking if I’m being honest.

Talking about Boxing Day, this year’s postponement meant I didn’t have the chance to score four years in a row.

I’d scored on Boxing Day 2018 against Hull at our place, at Leeds in 2019, then the winner at Derby. I suppose the record stays in tact until next year!