Brown insists Cup run is a 'bonus'

Craig Brown, the Preston manager, has insisted that any success in the Worthington Cup would be "a bonus" even though he is one step from steering the club into uncharted waters in the competition.

The First Division club have never reached the fifth round and their shock 2-0 victory at Birmingham on Tuesday night has put them just one more victory away from reaching that milestone.

But Brown is more concerned with trying to intensify the club's league campaign – they are currently lying in 15th spot – than any cup possible cup glory.

Although they are currently eight points adrift, he is not ruling out the possibility of reaching the play-offs if they can turn draws into three points on a more regular basis. The former Scotland manager said: "I do believe that we've been desperately unlucky in our First Division matches this season.

"We've drawn eight games in the league and I think that in six of them we should have come out on top. We did enough in those games to win. Then you would have been looking at another 12 points to our name and we would have been near the top of the table and everything would have been looking rosy."

Brown went on: "As it is we've now got a bit of catching up to do if we are going to get into the play-offs – but we are confident. Much as it is nice to do well in the Worthington Cup, it is a bonus to us."

Preston's hopes of moving up the table will be greater if their striker Ricardo Fuller can continue in his current form.

The Jamaican international came back into the side after suspension for the derby win over Burnley at the weekend in which he scored twice and then followed that up with the first goal at St Andrews.

Brown was well aware of Fuller's qualities from a loan spell at Hearts last season when he scored 10 goals in 29 games before bringing him to Deepdale in the summer from Tivoli Gardens.

Brown said: "He did catch my eye last season. He was very impressive, particularly against the leading sides. He was excellent against Celtic and Rangers and has already been a very popular signing at Preston with the fans."

The Birmingham City manager, Steve Bruce, is understandably more concerned about cementing the club's place in the Premiership than any cup success this season, which explains why he left out seven players from the side which had defeated Bolton last weekend.

But events on Tuesday will have shown him that he does not have significant strength in depth to cope if the Blues collect many more suspensions and injuries.

Striker Geoff Horsfield's sending off for elbowing an opponent will cost him a club fine but more importantly it deprives City of any experienced back-up to Clinton Morrison and Stern John for the Premiership games with Southampton, Sunderland and Tottenham.