Midfielder Brad Potts eager to get down to business again with Preston North End

The Lilywhites are due to play their first Championship game for more than three months when they face Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.

While they were not in form before the shutdown, neither were too many sides around them in the table.

So North End will resume in sixth place, and producing consistent results over the next nine game should ensure they hang on to it.

Potts, who will be pushing for a place in a competitive midfield, said: “The hard work we have done so far this season has got us to where we are now.

“It is unfinished business for us, we have nine games to get into the play-offs. We have a great chance of doing something special and getting to the Premier League.”

Potts was in and out of the PNE team before the season was suspended.

The 25-year-old has started nine league games and come off the bench 14 times.

North End boss Alex Neil has tended to pick Potts if he has played a high-pressing game.

He started both matches against Leeds and both with fellow play-off chasers Fulham.

So Neil clearly has a specific role in mind for Potts, and the midfielder hopes for further appearances in the coming weeks.

Said Potts: “I was in and out of the side before the season was stopped – I couldn’t get a run of games going.

“I did a lot of thinking during the break about what I needed to do to give myself the best chance of doing well.

“The time off helped me clear my mind and get my fitness levels back up.”

Potts had enjoyed the training since Preston got back to work last month.

“To start with we had to stick in small groups because we weren’t allowed contact training,” said Potts.

“Once we started contact training it enabled us to start preparing more for games, 11-versus-11 stuff.

“To start with the training had a bit of a pre-season feel to it, we were a bit rusty but that soon went out of the window – these are very different circumstances.

“We’ve only had a couple of friendlies, had three or four weeks to prepare when in pre-season we’d normally have about six weeks.

“Since we came back we have been concentrating a lot on the Luton game.

“We will be looking for a good result there to get off to a good start.

“If we can beat Luton we can crack on from there and push for a play-off place.

“We are looking forward to getting going again.”