'You quickly mention' - Ryan Lowe fiery and proud amid Preston North End improvement

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe believes credit is deserved for the Lilywhites' upturn in form of late.

The Lilywhites head into the next round of fixtures in ninth spot, two points behind sixth placed Coventry City - whom PNE face on Friday night. North End have won three and drawn two of their last five games, to spark life back into the league campaign.

Over the festive period, Lowe came under immense pressure from the Preston faithful and there were strong calls for him to be dismissed. But, the Liverpudlian was stuck by and looks to have come through that testing run - which saw North End collect 16 points from 19 games. He is proud, of his players as much as anyone, for the improvement.

"Yeah, it is good isn't it?" said Lowe. "You are collecting points, so we just go on to the next one now - which is Coventry City away. That is our last game in February, so we want to go there and give a good account of ourselves, put a good performance in and hopefully collect some points. The points tally we have generated, I don't think anyone has mentioned to me. But, you quickly mention it to me when we don't get the points - so I don't know who is going to ask me that question anytime soon.

"To get 11 points from five games is massively pleasing. I know we didn't get the points out of whatever you spoke about last time, or whoever mentioned it to me. But, to get 11 points out of five games is very pleasing. Not everyone looks at it like that (things can change quickly). I am a big believer, me - I believe in my team, squad, staff, the club, the fans. I believe in a lot of stuff. If I didn't, I wouldn't be sitting in the chair I am.

"You are going to go through rocky roads and you are going to go through tough times. That is just football, isn't it? Sometimes, people jump on the bandwagon of 'it's not this; it's not that'. I have said it many times... we've got an unbelievable owner, family and I've got an unbelievable boss in Peter Ridsdale. And my staff and my players - who take all of the credit, because they've been different class. Not once have we ever thought 'this is going badly' - we've just found solutions for it. And the solutions we've found, to get 11 points in five games, is not bad eh?"