Callum Brittain insists Blackburn Rovers must treat Friday's Lancashire derby against Preston North End as any other game to avoid last season's mistakes.

Rovers were battered 4-1 by their local rivals at Ewood Park in perhaps their worst performance of the season. It came after a four-week break where they had just lost 3-0 to Burnley, adding salt to the wounds.

Though Jon Dahl Tomasson's side beat Blackpool home and away, they didn't win in the other derby matches. Brittain thinks that at Burnley, in particular, they overegged the match in their minds which caused them to struggle on the day.

That is what they will be trying to avoid against PNE, in what should be a cracking game on Friday night.

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"It's a local derby and we want to win for the fans," Brittain told The Lancashire Telegraph. "The main thing is we put in a good performance and hopefully the result takes care of itself.

"I think in the Burnley game, away, we all hyped it up too much and that was the biggest problem. We went in a bit nervous and anxious and made a lot of mistakes.

"We have to go into the mentality that this is any other game. If we play our normal game, we can do really well and get a result."

Brittain has been playing in an advanced wide right role since the international break, with James Hill and then Joe Rankin-Costello behind him at right-back.

The defender has enjoyed the new position, one he played in his academy days. He thinks the combination with Rankin-Costello at Norwich was particularly effective.

"It's definitely taken me back to my youth team days when I used to be a right-winger," he said "I have enjoyed it, it worked well against Norwich with Ranks because if he went forward I could cover him.

"It worked well and I think we complemented each other. We're different types of full-backs, he excels when he rolls into midfield and I am more of a wing player.

"We helped each other out and complimented each other. I am enjoying playing games."

Unfortunately, Rovers fans won't be seeing that combination again any time soon, with Rankin-Costello out for three months after suffering a hamstring injury.

It was in this fixture last season that Brittain suffered his own injury nightmare, picking up a serious knee issue only three minutes in. He has sympathy for his team-mate and reflected on how the injury against Preston helped him to return in the best possible shape this summer.

"It's very frustrating," Brittain said. "The first week or so is the hardest to get your head around, especially when he was playing so well.

"It's a shame and a shame for the team as well because he (JRC) is a big contributor. We will get around him, the physios here are excellent, they will look after him and get him back as soon as possible.

"For me, the game lasted three minutes. I completely forgot about it until it was brought up before, it happens in football.

"It gave me the time to work hard and come back properly. It made me knuckle down in the summer too to work on my body.

"I think as a team, you can see the difference to last season. We have conceded more goals but we're creating a heck of a lot which we weren't. Everyone is buying in and there is a good feeling at the moment."