Preston North End right-back Darnell Fisher is improving his attacking instincts

Darnell Fisher's attacking play from right-back has benefited from Preston North End being more expansive in their play this season.
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That is the view of Lilywhites manager Alex Neil who thinks getting the full-backs higher up the pitch has been a work in progress.

Fisher has four assists to his name this season and also won the penalty for PNE's first goal in the 2-1 win over Hull City at Deepdale last Saturday.

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He also set up a golden chance for Sean Maguire to score when North End were trailing.

Preston right-back Darnell Fisher holds of Hull City midfielder George HoneymanPreston right-back Darnell Fisher holds of Hull City midfielder George Honeyman
Preston right-back Darnell Fisher holds of Hull City midfielder George Honeyman

Neil said: "When I first came and with what I inherited, we wanted to try and build and play more.

"Naturally your full-backs have to work higher up the pitch for that to be the case.

"In the first year we didn't evolve that way because we weren't quite ready - we were quite sturdy, steadfast, hard to beat and did things that way rather than open the pitch up to beat teams.

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"Last season I probably tried it too early, I tried it for the first 11-12 games of the season. We played quite well but were not capitalising on it or hurting teams.

"So we had to solidify to get ourselves out of the trouble we were in.

"I think we have evolved this season, we are at a stage where we handle the ball better than we ever have since I've been here.

"We can start to work our full-backs up the pitch more and they will get better as players that way.

"You need to add that string to your bow."

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Fisher, 25, has yet to score for North End since joining them in July 2017.

But Neil thinks he should have done when setting-up Maguire for his chance in the Hull game.

Neil said: "Darnell nearly scored on Saturday, he should have shot.

"I think we were all focused on the hope Seani was going to put the ball in the net."