Preston North End manager ready for tough game against West Bromwich Albion

The Baggies were tipped to be one of the front runners for promotion this season, although it hasn’t yet turned out like that, and are the type of side the North End boss is looking forward to coming up against.

PNE’s upcoming fixture list looks daunting but that is exactly why Lowe is looking forward to the games that are on the horizon.

He said: “It's another tough game, I know they lost on Saturday but they've got some fantastic players. I said coming into this batch of games, it looks scary but these are the one you want to be in the league for, they're the games and the teams you want to come up against. We'll put the Sunderland game to bed and plan accordingly for West Brom.”

PNE’s travelling fans filled out the top tier at Sunderland on Saturday and will again be at Deepdale in their numbers in midweek, despite only seeing their side score once in PR1 this season.

Lowe was full of praise for the PNE supporters and feels the unity and belief is the secret to getting North End back in the goals.

He said: “The support has been fantastic, I thank them and first and foremost their performance was outstanding. We saw a few of them in the town in Sunderland and they were singing and shouting, fair play to them.

"They see, don't they, that we're in this together. We know at some point we're going to start scoring some goals because the performances say that so I'm really pleased with the fans.

“Deepdale under the lights is the perfect way to start scoring but I've said that loads of times.

"We've just got to keep believing and not get frustrated with it, in terms of goals, we just have to keep believing that something is going to drop.

"I'll take one off the backside, off a head, a ricochet, anything will do! Once we get one and the strikers get one then confidence and belief is important.”