Preston North End player column: Deepdale skipper Alan Browne on two hard-fought results

Although we only drew 0-0 with Reading last Sunday, it was a solid performance.

The 1-0 win before that at Birmingham speaks for itself, a great result in the most testing conditions.

We’ve had people coming into the side, others going out, so four points out of six isn’t bad at all.

There were four new lads in the squad for those games, including Daniel Iversen our goalkeeper, and it takes time for them to settle in, hence my feeling it was a good points return.

The Birmingham game was horrible in terms of the conditions.

When you look back at the season and hopefully have been successful, it is that sort of game you take a lot of satisfaction from.

It was an absolute scrap out there in the rain, both teams fighting for the points and we got them.

We got soaked, our shirts were sticking to us and the rain was in our faces.

But we produced some quality for the winning goal and then we dug in to make sure we kept the lead.

Against Reading, we were on top for quite a bit of the first half and that is when we needed to score.

That game was pretty similar to some of the ones at Deepdale earlier in the season. The difference was this time, we stopped the opposition scoring.

Fine margins fell our way with the penalty miss.

What had tended to happen in those games at the start of the season was that things were very even and then something just fell for the other team.

We haven’t had many draws this season and with Reading missing a penalty, you could say we turned a defeat into a draw, which we hadn’t been doing.

Hopefully we can follow up the points we’ve got in the last two games by going to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday and bringing three points back from there. It will be tough over there, they have a lot of threats on the pitch.

They had the points deduction but have been clawing them back, so we know we have a battle on our hands at Hillsborough.

Off the pitch, I was delighted to sign my new contract the other week.

As captain, I knew it was important to sign but I felt I needed to take my time and seek the opinions of others about a few things. I did take a bit of stick for the length of time it all took but it was right not to rush it and we got there in the end.

Signing a new contract is a big decision and you’ve got to feel comfortable with it. I didn’t let it distract me from my game, I stayed focused and eventually got it agreed.

During my time here, I’ve signed a few contracts.

Earlier on when I was a bit younger, they were coming every six to 12 months as a reward for the progress I was making.

I think there was about two-and-a-half years between this contract and the last one I signed.

The current state of things with Covid, makes me realise how fortunate I am to get a contract like this.

People are losing their jobs or being furloughed, so I’m thankful to have got it all sorted.

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