When Andy Little put pen to paper on his deal at Deepdale at the end of June 2014, the Northern Ireland international front man was hoping to make his mark on League One.
Two months later and life had started pretty well for the former Rangers man, scoring in his first competitive away game, the 2-0 League Cup victory over today’s opponents Rochdale, a further goal in the home draw with fancied Sheffield United and an unbeaten first half a dozen games of the campaign.
However, disaster then struck, picking up a hamstring injury 20 minutes into the first league defeat of the season, away at Walsall, and then between 13th September and the recent game at Barnsley he was limited to two cup starts and just four substitute appearances in Sky Bet League One and looking back on his first year in Lancashire, the 25-year-old admits it has not been as he would have imagined when he signed his contract.
“Looking back to that game I was really pleased with how pre-season went, and being in the team at the starting of the season, I was delighted about,” he told The One And Only for this weekend’s game. “Getting a goal in the first away game I was at that thinking ‘great, I’ve hit the ground running’ and I was looking to keep on going and keep scoring goals, but it has become the most frustrating season of my career, easily!
“I wanted to make more of an impact that I have, but injuries have been a real setback for me.
“Frustrating is the biggest and best word to describe this year, however, there have been parts of the year where I have been embarrassed.
“Coming to a new club you want to try and make an impact; impress the fans; try and get the respect of your team-mates and try and do your very best for the manager, but if you have injuries and setbacks like I have had then there is not an awful lot you can do.
“All season long I have worked as hard as I could to get back from the injuries and get back into the team, but I haven’t ultimately played as many games as I would have liked.
“I really have felt embarrassed, because you feel you are over something, that the physios are working hard to get you back fit and then you break down again and you feel like it’s all your fault.
“Nobody means to get injured or wants to get injured.”
You can read more from Andy in our extended interview with the Northern Ireland frontman in the 100-page edition of Friday’s programme; this also includes features and interviews with Bobby Ham, Gerry Ingram, Sean St. Ledger, Brian McBride, Bailey Wright and many more.
We also have a dozen pages about our visitors from Greater Manchester and we have some fantastic unseen images in our big picture section – all this and so much more packed into the 27th edition of the season.
It will be available on the night still for the fantastic value price of just £3. They will be on sale from Thursday afternoon from the Club shop, online and in person from our sellers inside and outside of Deepdale.
Don’t forget; The One And Only is also available to download on your iPhone and iPad via the Matchday Digital app.
The Matchday Digital App allows you to view the North End programme anytime, anywhere. You can make one-off purchases or take out a season pass so you are subscribed to the whole season. If you can’t make the game, simply download the programme on the Matchday Digital app and be part of the game.
The slick digital version comes with all the content you would have in the printed programme, but with added features including:
• Programmes available to fans any time, anywhere
• Download back copies from past games
• Programmes will be made available for purchase worldwide
• Easy to use curl or slide ‘turn page’ technology
• Keyword search taking you straight to a particular player or feature
• Pinch screen feature to zoom into articles or images
• Add articles to Facebook or Twitter via the social media feature
• The Matchday Digital app is free to download on to your iPhone/iPad.
Preston North End supporters can download an individual issue at £2.99 or take out a season pass for £49.99.
Download the Matchday Digital app on your iPhone or iPad for free by going to the iTunes App store on your iPhone/iPad and search for ‘Matchday Digital’.
However, disaster then struck, picking up a hamstring injury 20 minutes into the first league defeat of the season, away at Walsall, and then between 13th September and the recent game at Barnsley he was limited to two cup starts and just four substitute appearances in Sky Bet League One and looking back on his first year in Lancashire, the 25-year-old admits it has not been as he would have imagined when he signed his contract.
“Looking back to that game I was really pleased with how pre-season went, and being in the team at the starting of the season, I was delighted about,” he told The One And Only for this weekend’s game. “Getting a goal in the first away game I was at that thinking ‘great, I’ve hit the ground running’ and I was looking to keep on going and keep scoring goals, but it has become the most frustrating season of my career, easily!
“I wanted to make more of an impact that I have, but injuries have been a real setback for me.
“Frustrating is the biggest and best word to describe this year, however, there have been parts of the year where I have been embarrassed.
“Coming to a new club you want to try and make an impact; impress the fans; try and get the respect of your team-mates and try and do your very best for the manager, but if you have injuries and setbacks like I have had then there is not an awful lot you can do.
“All season long I have worked as hard as I could to get back from the injuries and get back into the team, but I haven’t ultimately played as many games as I would have liked.
“I really have felt embarrassed, because you feel you are over something, that the physios are working hard to get you back fit and then you break down again and you feel like it’s all your fault.
“Nobody means to get injured or wants to get injured.”
You can read more from Andy in our extended interview with the Northern Ireland frontman in the 100-page edition of Friday’s programme; this also includes features and interviews with Bobby Ham, Gerry Ingram, Sean St. Ledger, Brian McBride, Bailey Wright and many more.
We also have a dozen pages about our visitors from Greater Manchester and we have some fantastic unseen images in our big picture section – all this and so much more packed into the 27th edition of the season.
It will be available on the night still for the fantastic value price of just £3. They will be on sale from Thursday afternoon from the Club shop, online and in person from our sellers inside and outside of Deepdale.
Don’t forget; The One And Only is also available to download on your iPhone and iPad via the Matchday Digital app.
The Matchday Digital App allows you to view the North End programme anytime, anywhere. You can make one-off purchases or take out a season pass so you are subscribed to the whole season. If you can’t make the game, simply download the programme on the Matchday Digital app and be part of the game.
The slick digital version comes with all the content you would have in the printed programme, but with added features including:
• Programmes available to fans any time, anywhere
• Download back copies from past games
• Programmes will be made available for purchase worldwide
• Easy to use curl or slide ‘turn page’ technology
• Keyword search taking you straight to a particular player or feature
• Pinch screen feature to zoom into articles or images
• Add articles to Facebook or Twitter via the social media feature
• The Matchday Digital app is free to download on to your iPhone/iPad.
Preston North End supporters can download an individual issue at £2.99 or take out a season pass for £49.99.
Download the Matchday Digital app on your iPhone or iPad for free by going to the iTunes App store on your iPhone/iPad and search for ‘Matchday Digital’.