Ryan Ledson says Preston North End ready to hit the ground running in bid to reach the Premier League

Preston are on the starting blocks ready for a sprint finish to the Premier League – that’s the view of young midfielder Ryan Ledson.
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North End’s players returned to training this week after spending the previous two months or so at home in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

They have not played since losing 3-1 at home to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, March 7 –the coronavirus causing a halt to all sporting activities. But the signs look good for Project Restart with the footballing authorities pencilling a possible date of June 20 for the Championship to reconvene.

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North End currently lie in sixth spot in the Championship table – the fourth and final spot of the play-offs.

Preston midfielder Ryan Ledson is eyeing up a place in the Championship play-offsPreston midfielder Ryan Ledson is eyeing up a place in the Championship play-offs
Preston midfielder Ryan Ledson is eyeing up a place in the Championship play-offs

They lie just one point ahead of seventh-placed Bristol City and two ahead of Millwall and Cardiff City, who are eighth and ninth respectively. Indeed only six points separate North End and QPR, who are in 13th.

Despite the table being tight, as it stands Alex Neil’s men are in pole position to claim a top-six spot and Ledson revealed he and his team-mates are determined not to let the opportunity pass them by.

What has gone before during the 2019-20 season can be forgotten now – all that matters is the nine games left to play of the normal season, plus hopefully the play-offs.

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“It’s like a tournament,” said Ledson. “It’s a nine-game shootout and we need to win as many of those games as we can. We want to get in those play-offs. That is something we have set out with the aim for from day one.

“So to be inside the play-offs with nine games to go, I think if anybody would have said that to us at the start of the season, we would have snapped their hands off. Let’s hope we can finish it off and get in those play-offs.

“It is going to be like nine cup finals – we have a chance of getting in the Premier League and that’s what we are all thinking.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some of the lads and we have got to be as fit as we can be knowing that it’s probably going to be Saturday-Tuesday for five weeks when it gets started.

“We have got to have everybody fit and raring to go.”

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Having been tested for the virus last week and undergone further testing this week, no player or member of staff has tested positive from North End.

The EFL confirmed 1,030 samples from players and staff were gathered at second-tier clubs between Monday and Wednesday of this week, with three positive results coming from two clubs.

Blackburn captain Elliott Bennett and two Fulham players have tested positive.