The month started off with Preston's poorest performance since Christmas as they lost their 100% home record since the start of the year to Crystal Palace in a scrappy game. The match was settled by a close range effort and Preston were ineffective throughout.
Two tough away games followed and many fans were fearing the worst after a poor showing throughout the season away from Deepdale. On a Tuesday evening Preston's fortunes turned as they beat fellow strugglers Leicester with a last minute piledriver from Darren Carter. The match also saw a start for loan signing Craig Beattie who subsequently went off injured and has since returned to West Brom.
With one loan signing going, Irvine brough in Tamas Priskin from Watford who started at The Valley against high flying Charlton. Thanks to a below par performance from the home side and some exceptional finishing from Chris Brown, North End took all three points to get themselves up the table.
Preston then followed up their away days with a Tuesday night match at Deepdale against play off chasing Wolves. North End are unbeaten at home in the league on a Tuesday for more than seven years. Despite a Keogh goal giving the visitors the lead, a storming finish meant Preston got all three points.
The Whites then headed to Bloomfield Road for the first time in eight years as a capacity crowd saw one of the dullest Derby games ever ending in a goalless draw.
The following week saw a much more up tempo Derby gane at Deepdale against Burnley as the Whites should have been out of sight in the first half but still managed to claim victory with a 2-1 win against the Clarets.
The month ended on a high with Mellor being recalled to the starting line up. He caused havoc for Sheff Utd at Deepdale and Preston took all three points to take their unbeaten run to six games.
Preston now sit comfortably in mid table, eight points from the relegation zone and eight points from the play offs. They have five games left, all against teams who are still in with a chance of exiting the division by one method or another. Irvine will be hoping for a continuation of the current form and may well be named manager of the month.