Preston North End defender Ben Davies wants ANOTHER crack at the play-offs

The central defender experienced the League Two play-offs at York City six years ago, then in the 2016/17 season played at Fleetwood Town in the League One end-of-season knockout.

Davies was not in the first-team picture when North End won the League One play-offs in 2015, although did travel with the squad to Wembley.

With nine games left, PNE occupy sixth place and head to Kenilworth Road to take on Luton Town on Saturday (3pm).

After a dip in form over the last few weeks which has seen North End win only once in the last five games, the clash with the Hatters is significant.

If the recent struggles continue, someone in the pack behind will leapfrog them – leaving Davies and his team-mates chasing.

Davies said: “We are still in the top six which is where we have always wanted to be at this stage.

“In that respect things are going well but recent results haven’t been good, no one is trying to claim otherwise.

“Performances haven’t been great for the last three or four games.

“We’ve tended to have a good spell in the game and then dip in other parts.

“It’s quite difficult to pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong.

“The important thing is to win the next game at Luton and hopefully get back on track.”

After back-to-back defeats at the turn of the year, North End hit a good patch of form.

They went six matches unbeaten, winning four of them – three of those were on the road.

The run was halted by a 1-0 home defeat to Millwall before they hit back by beating Hull City the following week.

However, defeats to West Bromwich Albion, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers have followed.

It is that trio of losses which PNE will be looking to halt at Luton – a side who need the points at the other end of the table.

Said Davies: “Our aim always is to win the next game, no matter what the last result was.

“Earlier in the season we were scoring freely and playing with more confidence because of that.

“It’s been a bit tough lately and we need to get back to playing how we did a few months back.

“There’s nothing to fear, we are a good team and we’ve got to get back to showing that.

“When you put a few good results together, the confidence grows.

“A problem lately has been that we have played well for spells but then haven’t seen it through.

“You look back to the QPR game last week, we played well in the first half and went in 1-0 ahead at half-time.

“In the second half things didn’t go to plan and we ended up losing.

“There’s no panic stations but we have to start winning.

“Teams below us will start winning so we have to do that to stay above them.

“If we win at Luton, we stay in the top six, simple.

“We are still confident we can go to places and win.”

This will be North End’s first visit to Luton since November 2006.

Davies has played there before with Newport, another of the clubs he served on loan before becoming a PNE regular.

The 24-year-old said: “Luton have picked up a bit recently and it is a tough place to go.

“I’ve played there once with Newport, it was a draw that day.

“We are under no illusions that every game in this division is difficult.”

The build-up to the game has obviously come against the background of the coronavirus outbreak.

Davies said: “We have all been talking about it, we are no different to any other workplace.

“It is quite surreal what has been happening .

“There’s talk of games being played behind closed doors but speaking for myself, I want fans at the game.

“It would be difficult to play a competitive game without the fans.”