Gaffer talks ahead of reunion with former boss Grayson.
Paul Dickov will face his former manager Simon Grayson when the pair takes charge of their respective sides at Deepdale tonight.Grayson signed Dickov twice; during his spell as manager or Blackpool and then later Leeds United, but the Scot is not letting sentiment get in the way of his desire for three points.
“They’re flying at the minute, but we’ve won four out of six as well so it’ll be a good game,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic place to go and play – especially at night – and it’s a great place both as a player and as a manager.
“They’re a good team who’ll have aspirations of automatic promotion so it will be a good test but we want to take the game to them.
“A lot of people will expect them to win but Saturday’s result relaxes us a bit to go out and play our own game.”
The sides drew 1-1 at the Keepmoat Stadium earlier in the season and haven’t met in Lancashire since December 2012 and a 3-0 win for the visitors, who may be able to call upon stalwart James Coppinger after injury.
“We’re looking good, all the players came through the weekend okay – as expected – and we have a few bumps and bruises,” Dickov said.
James Coppinger has trained and he’ll be back in the squad as well. On and off the pitch, he’s fantastic and he’s been our captain all season and while we’ve picked up a few results with him out of the side, we feel we’re a different proposition with him in the side.
“We’ll look at it and assess how everyone is before deciding on selection. It’s the old conundrum about changing a winning formula or freshening things up with games coming up.”
Dickov’s side lost on their last away outing – 3-0 at Port Vale – in what was their first defeat on the road since October and he admitted to wanting to rediscover that form in the club’s push for a play off spot.
“The last month of the season will be when we find out about where we’ll be. To put the run together like we have done and to play the way we have shows that the players are listening to what we’re telling them and they’re knuckling down and getting stuck in and getting their rewards for it,” he said.
“If we’re not in sixth, then we want to be in touching distance going in to the final few games of the season and I fancy us in a one off team against anyone in the division if we stay fit.
“We’ve put ourselves in a really good position going in to the last thirteen games.”