“It feels brilliant to score a hat-trick, they don’t come around too often, especially for midfielders, so I am absolutely thrilled.”
Those were the thoughts of three=goal hero Nicky Wroe who grabbed his fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the season inside the first 35 minutes of Tuesday night’s 3-2 triumph over Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park.
Speaking after the game with the matchball firmly under his arm the North End No.8 describe his hat-trick from his perspective.
“For the first, the ball went forward and Jack looked favourite to win it, so I took a gamble and he got a nice flick on and I timed my run perfectly and just managed to stick it away which got us off to a great start.
“The second was really well worked. Jack kind of put another one on a plate for me. I gave him a shout that I was inside and told him to play it early and he did. Luckily I managed to get a good contact and stick it in on the far side.
“The final came from the training ground. It didn’t quite go as smoothly as we’d probably have liked , Scotty’s lay off was slightly behind, but we’ll take it… was it a deflection? I didn’t quite notice that!”
Now joint top scorer with seven to his name, he had waited a while since his last goal, but put the finding of his goalscoring touch down to being given licence to get forward by the manager.
“At the start of the season I got off to a good start and got a few goals and the gaffer has been looking at the stats and I haven’t been getting into the box as much, so he has been encouraging me to do so and it paid off today,” he added.
“Seven goals is a good return so far, but I am disappointed not to have a few more from other games and hopefully that will kick me on and I’ll be able to continue and not leave it as long as I have done this time.”
He became the first North End midfielder to score three in a game for 22 years and scored the fastest PNE goal for 25 years and was happy with the milestones.
“If you are breaking records you are doing something right, so it is nice to get those records and pick them up along the way and we can gain confidence from that and take it into our upcoming games.
“If we can keep picking points up on the road, and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t, that can be a big help. We need to make Deepdale a fortress as well and make sure we are getting our results there.”
And back on the road at the weekend, he feels the team owe the large away support expected at Prenton Park a big performance after their display the last time a huge Lilywhite crowd went on the road.
“We feel we owe the fans one for the Oldham game. We were really disappointed with our performance there, so we will be looking to go and really put on a show for the fans. They have been terrific so far and I am sure they’ll be out in their numbers again and really up for it, as thr lads will be and we will be trying to get the result.
“It gives you a big boost to run out and see that level of support our fans give us. The noise generated will frighten opposition teams, knowing they have to get off to a good start, otherwise if we get on top our backing will make a lot of noise and spur us on.”
And with the Lee’s of Holmes and Trundle both back out running, he feels the competition for places is going to spur the lads on even more: “Those two players are going to be key when they come back.
“The lads saw their qualities in pre-season and know what they are about and it is spurring lass on to keep doing their own jobs to stay in the team and it will be a real boost for us when they come back,” he added.