Preston winger Chris Sedgwick is determined not to 'do a Leeds' and become a big name victim of relegation from the Championship.

Preston currently find themselves in unfamiliar territory in the bottom three after two play-off appearances and a seventh-placed finish in the last three years.

And Sedgwick admits their current predicament came as a shock to the system at Deepdale.

He told BBC Sport: "I fully expected us to be up there challenging for a play-off spot and for us to start as badly as we did I don't think anyone could really believe it.

"But there is no getting away from the fact that in the early games we were not playing well and it was not happening for us.

"We were waiting for that first win and it took a while to get it. When we got it we thought we would kick on but that didn't happen and it was a shock to a lot of the squad and the fans as well.


The new manager has come in with fresh ideas and everyone has taken to that

Chris Sedgwick

"They expected us to do better and they weren't happy."

Sedgwick insists the players are now mentally tuned in to scrapping for survival under new manager Alan Irvine in a bid to avoid following Leeds United down into League One.

He added: "It would be unthinkable to fall out of this division so we have got to fight tooth and nail to get 53 points and make sure we stay in this league.

"I am sure Leeds were saying the same thing last year but they ran out of games and we don't want to be in that position. We have got to get points as quickly as we can."

After winning just three of their first 16 games on the back of last season's final straight collapse in the race of the play-offs, Preston sacked manager Paul Simpson.

Irvine was recruited from the coaching staff at Everton to replace him and two wins in the last three games suggests a corner may have been turned.

"It was a big psychological thing to get off the bottom of the table. It's never nice to look at that," said Sedgwick, who had known nothing but promotion pushes since arriving from Rotherham in 2004.

"Our performances have been picking up. Even in some of the games where we didn't get anything we played well.

"We're hoping we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.


I fully expected us to be up there challenging for a play-off spot

Chris Sedgwick

"We are only two or three points off about eight teams so if we keep winning we will stay in touch or pull away. If we can put a couple of wins together I can see us moving up the table."

Preston are only five points behind Cardiff City in 15th-place in a congested battle at the bottom of the Championship.

And with Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe, who are all within striking distance, to play over the holiday period Preston are entering a key phase of their season.

To that end, they have put in potentially valuable work at the national sports centre in Lilleshall in an intense two-day training session to prepare for the Christmas rush.

And Sedgwick believes that with Irvine's influence starting to be felt, Preston have the positive outlook, determination and ability within their squad to play their way out of trouble.

He said: "The new manager has come in with fresh ideas and everyone has taken to that.

"As a new manager he has his ideas on how he wants to play and that is starting to click.

"We have not been able to get on the training ground because of the bad weather so it was good to get together at Lilleshall and the gaffer managed to get some more of his ideas across.

"We are not in an ideal position but everyone is enjoying things and looking to get us out of the situation we are in.

"It's a very crucial period for us and we want to be coming out of the Christmas period looking upwards rather than downwards."