North End’s No.1 Thorsten Stuckmann spoke to PNE.Com ahead of the visit of Doncaster Rovers and said that the team must turn the draws into wins.
The German goalkeeper kept another clean sheet, his 17th in PNE colours, in his 50th game for the Lilywhites, and for much of the game was a spectator, desperately hoping – like the rest of the crowd – for his side to grab a goal.
“Especially in the first half, I was frustrated to watch us not score a goal,” he told the official website. “But looking at it from the other side, we created a lot of chances, which is good, but we need to score one or two.
“We were the better team and we played good football – I can’t tell you the reason we haven’t scored, but we have to keep going. We have to trust in ourselves, believe in ourselves and we will score goals. It is good to see we kept another clean sheet, so we can give a bit more trust in our offensive play and that’s what we have to do.
“Luke Foster played very well again and he and Bailey played a good game in front of me, because they only had two or three shots on target and David Buchanan has been a main factor as well at left back and if you get a back four that performs like we did on Wednesday, we can trust in it and play forwards.”
The Christmas period games started with two draws, but the 31-year-old custodian is hoping to see those draws become wins over the next couple of games: “We need wins,” he continued. “It is good we haven’t lost too many, but we have drawn too many games and we have to look only on the next game and focus on winning and then we can look at the table once we are winning games, to make the next step.
“It will be a good test against Doncaster. After we won there they went on a run and have played some good football. I think it is good for us that Humey [Iain Hume] isn’t allowed to play – he is one of the main keys to their game.
“They are on a good run, but we know we can beat them and if we play like we played in the first half on Wednesday and the second half against Coventry, then I think we can beat any team, especially at home and give the fans a home win.”
At the start of the game Bury turned the Lilywhites round, so the keeper spent the first half in front of the away fans, but this gave him a chance to marvel at the excellent home support – and he is hoping for more of the same on Saturday.
“The crowd on Wednesday was fantastic. I was at the opposite end of the pitch, but it was so loud and it is what our players need. That will give us more confidence and hopefully we can get the same on Saturday, if not more, and we can get the last win of 2012,” he added.