By Gareth Vincent
South Wales Evening Post

Roberto Martinez reckons his Swansea City side can bring an end to one of English football's most remarkable records when they make the testing trip to Preston tonight.

The Deepdale club have not lost on home soil on a Tuesday night in five years.

But Martinez, who believes that incredible streak is all down to psychology, believes Swansea can bounce back from their dismal 4-0 thrashing at Reading on Saturday by triumphing in Lancashire.

"It's a remarkable stat," the Swansea manager conceded.

"Preston will look at that record and they will be full of confidence.

"It will give them lots of belief, but it's a great challenge for us to see if we can stop their run.

"In a way it's going to be the same kind of test that we failed at Reading, when we coped poorly with their intensity and the momentum being at home gave them early on."

Martinez reckons Preston's players have a similar mentality to the one he experienced in his time as part of the Swansea squad.

"You can get into a rhythm as a football club," he said.

"Sometimes 11 brains can click together and the way minds interact can give you a lot. It's about self-belief. You turn up knowing that you're going to win a game and that's more important than the talent you have.

"We felt that way every time we played a night game at Vetch Field.

"The atmosphere was always electric, we had that feelgood factor and we looked forward to games."

Martinez has never lost back-to-back league games — aside from on the ends of two different seasons — in his 18 months as Swansea manager.

But after the Reading romp, he faces a mighty challenge to maintain that record this evening against a Preston side who have started the new season in impressive form.

"They finished last term with momentum and they have carried on from there," Martinez added. "What's important, though, is that we learn after the huge lesson at Reading. We are not used to the feeling we had on Saturday and we are looking for a response to that."

Swansea will give late fitness tests to Darren Pratley, Marcos Painter and Shaun MacDonald tonight as Martinez looks to make changes.

"It's quite clear that a couple of players need freshening up," he said.

Ferrie Bodde plays his last game this evening before serving a one-match ban having collected five bookings in just nine appearances this season.

But Martinez has no problem with the Dutchman's disciplinary record.

"We are asking Ferrie to do something different position-wise off the ball and, when you're adapting, you're going to give free-kicks away," he said.

"But I don't see it as a pattern in Ferrie's play and I've been delighted with the focus he's shown so far this season."