With competition fierce in the striking department, Neil Mellor has had to wait for his chance at PNE this season. Having returned to the squad against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, the former Liverpool man is hoping to take his chance under new Manager Alan Irvine.

He spoke exclusively to PNE.Com ahead of the visit from the Tigers on  Tuesday evening.

I imagine you are hoping to be involved against Hull and ready to inflict a bit of revenge for the 3-0 defeat at the KC Stadium. 
Our home form has been a lot better than our away form this season and I really think against Hull we can get at them. We owe them one after they beat us 3-0 a few weeks ago but we also owe our Manager his first win and hopefully we can do that.

We keep barking on about it but we have a great record at Deepdale on Tuesday nights and of course we'll be looking to extend that.
The most important thing is getting three points, a draw is better than nothing but I think the players are fired up and going into the Blackpool game at the weekend it is important we get something under our belts.

We've had games against Palace and Wolves which have been tough but Hull is a game where we have a real chance.
There's no easy game in our league because everyone can beat each other but you have got to make the most out of the home games and it is crucial we make Deepdale a bit of a fortress because in the past it hasn't been an easy place to come to. I'm sure Hull will be worried about coming to our place because we'll fired up.

They have two dangerous strikers in Windass and Campbell. As a fellow striker what do you make of them?
I'm quite impressed, I rate Windass because he has scored goals wherever he has been. He is an old fashioned centre-forward who does the job properly and young players can learn a lot from him. The boy next to him is very sharp so it is a good little combination that they have got. But I fully expect us to be on the front foot from the start and hopefully we'll restrict them and it will be our forwards getting the chances.

It was your first game in a few weeks against Wolves. How did you feel it went?
I didn't really get chance to do much but it was just great to be back involved. I've been in the stands a few weeks and this season it has been important to get the fitness going and I have been fit for selection every game. After my recent knee injuries I couldn't have asked for much more and now I've got to look at my form. I have scored plenty goals in training but it is about scoring in matches and given the opportunity I'd hope to find the back of the net.

So it sounds like you are feeling pretty sharp at the moment.
I am feeling good and since the new Gaffer arrived it's been a total breath of fresh air. It's like a new start for me and I'm hoping to impress him and get myself involved.

We've got six strikers at the Club and it's been a busy schedule of late.
It's important to have a big squad and we've probably got more strikers than most teams in the league but we are fortunate that all six strikers can do a good job on the day. Everyone is going to be needed this month, that's for sure and you pick up little niggles like with Nico. We've got some big games this month so we need everyone.

How much has the weather hampered the training, like on Monday with Springfields flooded we had to go elsewhere?
It's typical northern weather and being a northern lad I'm used to these horrible conditions. We had to train on Astroturf today but it wasn't really a problem as everyone got a good workout. It's a bit of a blow but not a massive one.

Going back to the games of recent, the signs have certainly been there that we are putting it right.
Against Palace it seemed a decent away performance until we conceded the goal and at Wolves, I can't believe we didn't pick anything up! We had a goal disallowed and we created three or four really good chances, not half chances but real clear cut ones. There are a lot of positives to take because Wolves are flying high in the league.

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