Karl Hawley has endured two tough, physical jousts in his last couple of outings for North End but he is ready to rough it up even more if that's what is required to keep the Lilywhites in the Championship.
After battles with Watford's Danny Shittu and Leigh Bromby last Saturday, it was followed with an immense tussle against Stoke's imposing centre-halves Ryan Shawcross and Leon Cort in midweek.
But, the striker came out with only a bruise or two for his troubles and more importantly, Preston added four points to their league tally.
A confident Hawley said: "I'm feeling good although it has been hard work for everyone. They have both been tough games against good teams who like to get the ball forward as early as possible.
"From a personal point of view, they haven't been the best of games to play in but I enjoy every match in which I'm involved. Shittu gave me a whack in the first half of the match at Watford, and I've still got bit of a lump now, but I'll be alright.
"Any point at the moment is a big achievement, we've got to go into every game looking to get what we can and getting four points off two of the best teams in the league is massive because we know how they have been flying."
This weekend North End face another testing challenge against Neil Warnock's Crystal Palace.
The last encounter against the Eagles, back in November at Selhurst Park, was Alan Irvine's first away fixture in command of Preston. In the 19 matches since, North End have showed steady signs of improvement and the former-Carlisle man believes that to be down to the Manager's methods on-and-off the field.
Hawley added: "We got battered in the game at Crystal Palace, it wasn't a good result and now we've got to look to better that.
"We are a different team now, we are more solid and organised and that is an attribute that the Gaffer has brought in. He has told us exactly how he wants us to play and we are still working on that.
"The Gaffer's preparation is top notch; he's got his scouts at the games and videos so we watch the opposition to see how they play. He tells us basically how to counteract their strengths that's a strong part of his armoury because he doesn't leave any stone unturned."
Hawley's contribution in the final third will be vital in the remaining 12 games. He may have only netted on five occasions this season but his work ethic has won over the PNE supporters. With Brett Ormerod and Neil Mellor offering competition in attack, the forward is under no illusions over what is required to keep his starting berth.
The 26-year-old explained: "Even though I haven't scored for a couple of weeks, I'm still in the team and I have got to keep myself in the team and if the chance comes then I'm sure I'll stick it in the back of the net.
"I've just got to keep working hard. Keep trying and there's nothing more I can do than that."
Fancy Hawley to get on the scoresheet against Palace. You can get odds of 85/1 for the number eight to score first in a 3-1 PNE victory with pnebetting.co.uk
