Kevin Davies was delighted to have scored the winner in PNE’s 2-1 victory over Oldham, even though his penalty conversion didn’t go quite as he had planned.
The 35-year-old put North End 2-0 up in the first half with an incredible spot-kick which flew into the top corner and, although he admits his shot went slightly askew, the former England international was happy to get on the score sheet.
“I didn’t quite want to go top corner and got a little bit more loft that I’d have liked, I wanted to put it in that area but not so close to the bar,” he told PNE.Com in an exclusive interview following the match.
“It’s nice to get a goal and what proved to be the winner, it’s in the back of the net. It was the same with Bev, it got a slight deflection so it’s nice for both of us and overall just pleased with the win.”
The Lilywhites rode their luck at times in the match and were often put under pressure by the visiting Latics’ set pieces.
However, while Davies concedes their performance wasn’t quite up to scratch, the forward insists it is the result that matters.
“We’re happy with the win of course, our first win here, puts us in that top six – which is where we want to be and it’s what we’re aiming for,” he added.
“It wasn’t our best performance of the season, we never really got going and they played some good stuff and made it difficult for us but we saw it out and we’re pleased with the win.
“I’m pleased personally to get off the mark with a pen and Bev as well. We’ll take it and move on and look forward to the next game.”
Declan Rudd produced a man-of-the-match performance for Simon Grayson’s side, pulling off some incredible saves between the posts.
The England U21 international seemed unfazed by the slick Oldham attack he was facing, and Davies was full of praise for the North End No. 23, as well as his assisting defensive unit.
“He’s a fantastic young goalkeeper and it’s not just him, it’s the whole back line I think of being fantastic, since the start of the season really,” he said.
“They’re prepared to put their bodies in there and their heads in there and get hurt so I think as a team we work hard for each other and it’s back to back wins for us so it’s really catapulted us up the league.”
The victory made it two wins from two under the lights at Deepdale for PNE, following their 1-0 win over Blackpool last month – also on a Monday evening.
“The players really enjoy it,” Davies said of playing in night games.
“We were speaking about it before the game, and a bit of rain came down and it was a greasy surface.
“We started the game well and got into the lead but they played some good football, we found it hard to pick their men up, and we didn’t’ get as tight as we’d have liked throughout the team.
“We’ll work on that, we changed our formation to deal with it a bit better so all that count is the result and hopefully we can look back at the end of the season and think it was a big result for us.”