Welsh sets promotion target

John Welsh believes Preston have the ability to challenge League One's early pacesetters in the race for automatic promotion.

Leyton Orient remain the team to catch in the third tier after an electric start of eight straight wins put them in pole position, and both they and nearest challengers Wolves have only lost one game going in to November. North End have won just seven but have only lost twice and currently lie in fourth place, nine points beyond the O's, who they meet in their next league encounter at Brisbane Road. With Peterborough's win column also in to double figures, Welsh knows Simon Grayson's team face some stiff competition to finish inside the top two spots. "The form that we've started with, we're fourth in the league now, so we take it game-by-game but that (promotion) is the overall goal," the Lilywhites skipper said. "All the lads are on board, they know their jobs and we're all pulling in the right direction. "It's going to be a tough, tough season. It's a good league, the standard is very high. When you see the likes of Leyton Orient and Peterborough are at the top and they've hardly lost any games...it's going to be a tough season. "Anything worth doing is not going to be easy so I'm looking forward to it, all the lads are looking forward to it, and hopefully we can do it." Welsh was named the League One Player of the Year for his exploits in a Preston shirt last term and he admits he is loving life at Deepdale after joining from Tranmere in 2012. "It's such a great football club, it's got a great fan-base," he added. "It's such a family club and there's a lot of great people that work there. I enjoy going in every day to work with the lads. The banter's always there within the club and to be a part of a promotion-winning team this season would sweeten it."