Building strong relationships within a squad is a key component for success, and that is certainly a theory defender Paul Huntington strongly believes.
Like the majority of his team mates, Huntington experienced what it is like to be a home player at Deepdale for the very first time, an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.
The summer capture from Yeovil Town played his first full 90 minutes against AEK Athens in the 1-0 victory, and put in another promising performance at centre half.
Speaking exclusively to PNE.Com in the Players’ Lounge after the full time whistle, he said: “It was good to get 90 minutes, get the win and a feel for the stadium. We have still got a long way to go and we know that but it is something we are looking forward to.
“We will keep working hard in both training and the games to pull together in preparation for our first game.
“It is important to build partnerships and that something we need to do going forward. You need game time to build relationships and also you need to be communicating and working on your positioning at the same time.
“Obviously you are getting your fitness in with it being pre-season but we need to look at building relationships and we have made good progress today and a step in the right direction.
“Today was my first 90 minutes and it has been a bit stop start because we have a lot of new players so at the moment we are chopping and changing.”
Huntington, who lined up alongside Australian Shane Cansdell Sherriff against the former Greek champions, believes it was a good test for the Lilywhites to play against a European side.
He continued: “It was me and Shane[Cansdell Sherriff] today, as a back four we are looking a more solid and in midfield too which can only be a good thing,” said the former Newcastle man.
“We are all looking forward to next week, we have got another two games and they are both going to be hard but we want to keep improving and work toward the Huddersfield game.
“The opposition will be different now compared to AEK Athens, we played a different type of opposition this afternoon.
“At the same time I think it is good to test yourself against various different opposition because it is not going to be the same match every week. Tuesday will be a very hard game but so will Saturday.
“We are looking forward to it and we are learning all the time about each other and about the Club and we look to install a good attitude and a positive vibe with the effort put in by the players.”