Preston North End midfielder John Welsh was full of praise for his teammates following the all yellow Lilywhites making it eight wins in a row.
Not even the new manager bounce of Mauro Miilanese’s first game in charge of Leyton Orient could derail the PNE juggernaut at the Matchroom Stadium as Simon Grayson’s men claimed a 2-0 victory in the capital.
Callum Robinson’s first senior goal sent Preston into the break ahead – in no small part thanks to an incredible double save by Jamie Jones who was returning to his former home for the first time, before Paul Huntington’s second goal in a week from a Tom Clarke knock down – Clarke returning to the fold from the bench after an illness bug, sealed the three points.
And Welsh, making his first league start of the season, praised the ruthlessness of the side.
Speaking exclusively to PNE.Com following the match, the midfielder said: “I think a lot of the ruthlessness is because we don’t want to be in the Play-Offs this year; I certainly don’t and I know a lot of the lads don’t – we want to win this league, that is the aim and the goal.
“We have got the fans right behind us, there is a lot of tough games coming up and a lot of away trips, but we want to win this league, no doubt about it, we are not going to pretend that we don’t.
“But we will take it one game at a time and see where it takes us.
“The difference between this year and last year is the different players that are scoring, all over the pitch; we are not just relying on Joe.
“It is great for the boys and there is a great mentality, great spirit, and I think you can sense a winning atmosphere around the place so we need to keep that going.
“It is always a tough place to come Orient, but the pitch was nice and we got it down and passed it.
“We knew it was going to be tough with their new manager coming in and they were going to give it a go looking for a reaction, but I think we stood up to that.
“The back four were brilliant; Jamie Jones made one or two world class saves and he wanted to come back here and do well and he done that – he enjoyed it at the end as you saw.
“I think there were some brilliant individual performances; Paul Huntington was unbelievable today.
“Joe Garner, Jack King, there was some great performances, and that inevitably leads to a good team performance.
“Sometimes you have just got to grind it out and with the players on the pitch that we have got; it was always likely that we would get that second goal to win the game.”
Callum Robinson’s first senior goal sent Preston into the break ahead – in no small part thanks to an incredible double save by Jamie Jones who was returning to his former home for the first time, before Paul Huntington’s second goal in a week from a Tom Clarke knock down – Clarke returning to the fold from the bench after an illness bug, sealed the three points.
And Welsh, making his first league start of the season, praised the ruthlessness of the side.
Speaking exclusively to PNE.Com following the match, the midfielder said: “I think a lot of the ruthlessness is because we don’t want to be in the Play-Offs this year; I certainly don’t and I know a lot of the lads don’t – we want to win this league, that is the aim and the goal.
“We have got the fans right behind us, there is a lot of tough games coming up and a lot of away trips, but we want to win this league, no doubt about it, we are not going to pretend that we don’t.
“But we will take it one game at a time and see where it takes us.
“The difference between this year and last year is the different players that are scoring, all over the pitch; we are not just relying on Joe.
“It is great for the boys and there is a great mentality, great spirit, and I think you can sense a winning atmosphere around the place so we need to keep that going.
“It is always a tough place to come Orient, but the pitch was nice and we got it down and passed it.
“We knew it was going to be tough with their new manager coming in and they were going to give it a go looking for a reaction, but I think we stood up to that.
“The back four were brilliant; Jamie Jones made one or two world class saves and he wanted to come back here and do well and he done that – he enjoyed it at the end as you saw.
“I think there were some brilliant individual performances; Paul Huntington was unbelievable today.
“Joe Garner, Jack King, there was some great performances, and that inevitably leads to a good team performance.
“Sometimes you have just got to grind it out and with the players on the pitch that we have got; it was always likely that we would get that second goal to win the game.”