Preston’s interim head coach Frankie McAvoy is out to delay Norwich City’s promotion charge and boost his own chances of replacing Alex Neil.

McAvoy followed Neil to Norwich from Scotland and was later reunited at Deepdale, but Neil was dismissed prior to the international break with City heading to Preston on Good Friday.

McAvoy is now in charge until the end of the season and desperate to make the most of his audition for the job.

“It is big shoes to fill,” he said. “It is eight games, I will give it my best shot and hopefully the players and the backroom team I have got behind me, will give everything they have got and that is what we will do; we will give everything we can to win as many games as possible.

“It is a big opportunity. I am saddened that Alex has left and the circumstances.

"The results have been the biggest influencing factor here, but if you look at Alex’s tenure here, he has been magnificent and to follow some of the stuff he has done is going to be really tough.

“He has been a great leader and mentor for me and hopefully a lot of the good stuff I have learnt from him, I can take forward and hopefully get the best out of the players, which is ultimately the goal, as well as winning as many games as we can.”

The duo guided Norwich to the Premier League in 2015 but were dismissed after failing to bounce back from relegation at the first attempt.

McAvoy, speaking to his club’s official site, insists there can be no sentiment ahead of Norwich’s visit.

“It is funny how football works,” he said, on facing his old club. “The difficult part you have to get out of your mind is keeping looking back.

"What we have to do now is just to look forward with a view in mind to get back to winning ways and with the group of players we have got, the staff behind us, we are good enough to get a winning formula to win games.

“We only have a couple of players away (on international duty) so we have a full group to work with and try and get mentally prepared as possible for the games coming up and I am looking forward to it.

“We are here to help them, support them and get the best out of them and that’s what I see my role as, and always has been.

"I supported Alex as best as I could, to try and get the best out of the players in training and on matchday.”