Daniel Johnson hails Preston North End's squad game ahead of trip to Bristol City

Daniel Johnson and Paul Gallagher and vying for a starting spot at Ashton Gate

The Preston North End midfielder has started the last five games since coming on and scoring in the thrilling 3-3 draw at Aston Villa last month.

Paul Gallagher is pushing him hard for a start at Ashton Gate however after some impressive cameos of his own, including his stint in goal in the 1-1 draw at Ipswich last time out.

“I don’t really like talking about me to be honest but I’ve done okay,” Johnson said.

“I’ve chipped in with a few goals here and there.

“With our group we all stick together but we know when we go out on that training field we’ve got to push ourselves to that limit.

“We’re all fighting for that place in the starting XI but I think the most pleasing thing for us is the impact of the boys coming off the bench.

“You can actually see that no matter who plays there’s going to be someone who comes off the bench and makes an impact.

Daniel Johnson in action against Ipswich last time out

“I know it myself, I was one of three substitutes at Villa and we all scored.

“That just shows how strong our squad is.”

DJ says Gallagher’s stint between the sticks, the midfielder going in goal after Chris Maxwell’s red card, has been the subject of plenty of dressing room humour this week.

“We’ve all had a laugh about it,” said the 26-year-old, who has four goals this season.

“It’s what we have to do, it’s part of the game really.

“It wasn’t a situation that we wanted to find ourselves in but that’s life.

“Even when we did go down to 10 men I thought we could have won it with Lukas Nmecha's chance.

“The important thing for us was to come out of that game with something and we got a point which is the pleasing thing.

“At the end of the day we can all laugh and joke about it.”

That PNE nearly nicked it late on at Portman Road is evidence that Alex Neil’s men can last the course according to Johnson.

“We work really, really hard on a lot of things,” he said.

“I think we come on stronger in games in the last 20-30 minutes for whatever reason. I don’t know if that’s fitness or confidence.

“It shows we don’t lie down or accept the game’s over, we go right until the very end.”