Having enjoyed Gentry Day on several occasions in the past, Daniel Johnson is looking forward to another this weekend as PNE take on Middlesbrough.
PNE travel to the Riverside Stadium following the midweek victory over Rotherham United, marking the final fixture of March prior to the international break.
Selected by the fans as the dedicated match to pay respect to those who are unfortunately no longer with us, DJ acknowledged just how special the occasion is, having featured and scored twice in last season’s 3-1 Gentry Day win at Barnsley, among others.
He said: “We’ve had some really good ones.
“I’m always happy to contribute, whether it’s a goal, assist or even just being vocal on the football field.
“It was a really good day for us, a really good day for myself and we won the game which was the pleasing thing.
“It’s going to be a tough game, we all know that. They’re in form, their striker's scoring a lot of goals, but as we know, this Championship is unpredictable at times so we’ll just focus on ourselves, go down there and look to get three points.”
Middlesbrough will certainly be no pushovers, though, as Michael Carrick’s side are placed third in the league ahead of the encounter on the weekend and making a push for the second automatic promotion spot
For North End, they’re enjoying a good run of their own, following a somewhat inconsistent start to 2023.
DJ said: “We’ve had a few injuries, missing key players at times, and obviously I think at the moment there’s only one or two left injured, but it was always going to turn.
“We always had the belief and the faith that everything was going to turn for us.
“It was just about getting that one and finally we got the one and it just kicked us on to where we are today.
“The faith and the belief never ever leaves the group or the building, but everyone knows the Championship – it’s relentless.
“One day you can be on a high, the next day you can be on a low so, at the moment, we’re on a high, so we just look forward to keep it going on Saturday.”
DJ registered a sixth consecutive appearance under the Tuesday night Rotherham lights, after overcoming a short spell out of the starting XI, and insisted that PNE will do all they can to continue the feel-good factor around an unbeaten streak.
“Sometimes you’re out of form, sometimes players get injured, but I am enjoying my little spell that I’m having and hopefully I can just keep that going on a personal level and obviously for the team as well, because I think we’ve got a really solid base at the minute,” he said.
“When things are going good you kind of say it doesn’t really matter who comes in, they’ll get the job done, but we’re on a good run of form at the minute and hopefully we can just keep that going.
“It makes the players, the staff, everyone within the football club happy coming into work, so we just want to keep that going and keep everyone happy, keep the fans happy and that’s all we try and do.”