Joel Byrom tells PNE.Com that competition for places is healthy for the squad.
“Tuesday night presents the chance to get through to the semi-finals to play Coventry City in the JPT. But we have to get past Bury first and that is no easy feat, it has always a tough place to go.
“Myself and Andy Procter come in at the weekend and we both did well so it is a headache for the manager now and it is healthy competition.
He concluded: “There is strong competition for one of the spots in central midfield, it is always good for the team and it is healthy for everyone.
With all five men vying for a start at Bury on Tuesday night, Byrom is aiming for North End to seal their place in the JPT northern semi-finals.
With Byrom and Procter coming into the starting line-up, the changes resulted in Nicky Wroe and John Welsh missing out whilst skipper Mousinho coming on for Procter in the second half.
“On top of a clean sheet you look to be on top and create opportunities to score. We didn’t get that luck in front of goal at the end of the day.”
“We have got ourselves a solid platform now, we kept a clean sheet and that is one of the things we were looking to do at the weekend.
“It was nice to come back into the side, it was unfortunate that we didn’t get the win, it massed the performance.
“It was a great honour to captain the Club, it was a good experience for me because it is the first time I have captained the side in a league game. It was brilliant to be asked by the manager but it is a shame that we couldn’t get the win in the end.
Talking to the Club’s official website before training on Monday, Byrom admitted it was nice to come back into the starting line-up and was honoured to wear the red armband.
The 26-year-old partnered Andy Procter in the heart of midfield, with the latter making his first league start of the season.
North End’s number 13 made his first league start for over a month against Portsmouth at the weekend, and was given the responsibility of skippering the side with John Mousinho on the bench.