Curtis Fleming has hinted Max O'Leary will retain the No1 spot after praising the keeper for taking full advantage of his opportunity.
Manager Nigel Pearson raised eyebrows when he dropped club captain Dan Bentley to hand O'Leary his first league start of the season in the 2-1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers on December 30.
The Bath-born stopper has been a mainstay in the side ever since, starting the last six matches in all competitions, with the manager keen for his side to continue playing from the back.
O'Leary has endured a difficult run, in terms of goal against, conceding 16 during that period and question marks lingered over his positioning for both goals against Luton as certain sections of supporters raised the debate of bringing Bentley back into the starting XI.
However, it appears City will stick with O'Leary in goal for the trip to Preston and for the foreseeable future with the plan to build his Championship experience.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's trip to Deepdale, Fleming said: "In two years time after playing 60 or 80 Championship games, don't tell me players don't get any better. Look at Han (Noah Massengo) now he's improved in different aspects in his game and it's the same with Max.
"If the manager feels like he needs to make a change, but it's not in his mind. He's not thinking about that at the moment.
"I think with Max's overall game over the last few months, he's been outstanding in training and that's not to say that Bents (Bentley) hasn't.
"We are playing a lot more and it is one of his strengths to get on the ball and sometimes when you're good on the ball you do take chances as well.
"Where we were with the situation, was the manager just had a feeling from looking at all the sessions that this was the direction that he needed to go and he's gone with the 100 per cent belief that the kid can step in. I think you don't know how well he can do until you give him the chance to play.
"We think what he's done is he's come in and grabbed his chance. We're still conceding goals at different times and for every goal, I always think there are four or five bad decisions. I think he's deserved his chance, he's done well for an inexperienced Championship goalkeeper - it hasn't fazed him.
"Max is a young goalkeeper he's still learning his trade at this level. It's a different level than playing in League One and Two there's no doubt about it and playing consistently against the quality of players but he's doing very, very well. You can see his confidence."
Pearson has previously alluded to introducing O'Leary because he possesses the ability to play out from the back - and the stats certainly prove that's the case.
In his five Championship appearances, the keeper is averaging 39.4 passes per game with eight long balls. Compare that with Bentley who averaged 29.9 passes and 9.4 long balls during his 23 league appearances.
Fleming admitted even he has been surprised with the quality of O'Leary's distribution but conceded making mistakes from playing out the back is all part of the territory.
"There's no doubt his passing ability is very good. He has hit a couple of passes in the last few games and I was thinking 'God, I wish I could have done that once in my career' but he has that in his locker," he added.
"But then there are other parts of his game that he needs to improve like everybody, like all the young boys and some of the senior boys. If he makes a mistake it's an honest mistake and he will make mistakes, he's a young man and that's what it is. Hopefully, he learns from it."
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