Keith Keane was delighted with the will to win shown by North End as they claimed three points against Gillingham.
Keano grabbed the opening goal of the game before Josh Brownhill – making his first start for the Club, doubled their advantage.
And despite Danny Kedwell pulling one back for the hosts, the Lilywhites defended superbly to take the three points back north.
Speaking about the win, Keane said: “All away games are tough in this league but it has shown before that it does not matter where teams are in this league, every game is tough, everyone wants to get the three points and we did what we had to do.
“I thought we put our game on today and we have come away with a good win.
“You have to just concentrate on doing the things that you are doing well because you know at the end the goals will come, so if you just keep doing the right things the goals will come.”
The PNE No.2 is first to admit that goalscoring is not a regular occurrence of his, but he was more than happy to do his part in earning the victory.
Talking about his first goal of the season, Keane added: “Davo [Kevin Davies] just went for a throw-in and I was on and I thought that if you don’t shoot you don’t score, so I was in a position to shoot and it went in so that is probably my one goal for the next 50 games!
“I’m just glad to help the team get the three points.”
And despite the slight deflection on his shot, he was adamant that no one would be taking the credit away from him.
“It was goal bound anyway so no way anyone is taking that one off me!” laughed the midfielder.
Despite dominating throughout the game, the Lilywhites had to sustain some late pressure following Kedwell’s header, and Keane is hoping that conceding goals in the future is something that the team are able to wipe from the slate.
He continued: “I think that is something we have got to get back into our game.
“We started the season and we was very solid and if we went one-nil up we would be very confident of seeing that out.
“Lately we have got a habit of letting teams back into the game, we just need to bring that back in, the solidness, the cleansheets and slowly but surely we will.”
Beside Keane and John Welsh in the midfield engine room on Saturday was 17-year-old Brownhill who made an impressive debut and Keano was full of praise for the Academy star.
“I thought he played very well, got a goal, I think it was near enough a perfect debut for such a young lad,” said Keane.
“He didn’t show any signs of nervousness and was always looking to get on the ball.
“I think he done very well and he is a great player for the future.”
A vocal 301 North End fans made the long journey south to Kent and Keane couldn’t praise them enough for their rousing support throughout the contest.
He finished by saying: “The fans are unbelievable, it shows you the size of the Club that it is able to bring such backing all this way down south.
“The lads appreciate it 100%, they always help us out and it keeps you going and makes it all worthwhile and that’s why we try our best.
“We want to do our best for the Club and the supporters.
“We want to work together to try and get this Club back into the Championship and with their help, hopefully we can do that.”