BRIAN Laws is keen for his players to demonstrate their character and bounce back from a first defeat of the season, at Swansea, to claim the bragging rights against Preston tomorrow.

And he warned: “It’s not a normal game and you can’t treat it as one.

“Anyone who thinks this is a normal game are lunatics as far as I’m concerned.

“If you treat it like a normal game you take away what it’s really all about.

"It’s about passion and everything else that comes into it.

“I expect it to be that way. There’s going to be a lot of tackles and the referee’s going to have to be strong to cope with the demands of this kind of game, like on the BBC as well so the pressure’s going to be on.

“Is it going to be fluent game? We’d like to think that would happen but who knows?

"You’ve got to be prepared for everything because in these games form books are out of the window.

“League positions mean nothing, it’s who turns up on the day and fancies it most.

“There’s a lot more from our team to come. Not everyone’s firing on all cylinders just yet.

"There’s room for improvement and we’re looking to do that.”

He added: “I’ve been in so many derbies during my career as a player and manager to know they’re so unpredictable.

“When you get out there it’s a different game.

“As long as we do the right things I feel very confident, particularly with our home form and getting the supporters behind us, that we can give Preston a good game.

"But they’ll be coming here not to get beat either.”