Man of the match Bailey Wright was delighted to see fellow defender Scott Laird get his name on the scoresheet, after so long out through injury, in PNE’s 3-0 win over Stevenage.
Laird suffered a broken leg last season against Notts County, following an excellent start to his North End career, but has since battled back to full fitness.
The 25-year-old then capped his incredible return from injury by netting the second goal in North End’s demolition of Stevenage at Deepdale.
“It was brilliant to see Lairdy back playing as well and getting on the scoresheet,” Wright told PNE.Com in an exclusive interview following the game.
“He’s had a tough old few months with his injuries so it’s nice to see him back on the field and scoring goals.”
The victory means Preston have now won two home games in a row, and three consecutive League One matches.
21-year-old Wright contributed a fantastic performance to the triumph, acting as a brick wall to the Stevenage attackers.
But the defender insists there’s still more to come from the North End squad, saying: “Quite a solid performance, still a lot to come from us yet but we’re happy with the three points.
“We’ve started the season well and now we’ve started winning games so we’ve got to continue that and continue the momentum.
“We want to make this a tough place for any team to come and to do that you’ve got to keep winning games so it was nice to see.”
As a defender, Wright prides himself on keeping clean sheets – something he was delighted to do against the Boro.
“It’s what we all look for, the clean sheets are what we base our performance from and we did that today,” he said.
“I think we kept our shape well from the back and that made it a bit easier for us.”
Despite the fact he received the man of the match award, Bailey was quick to praise the rest of his teammates, saying: “It was nice to get, I was a little bit surprise actually, I think it could have quite easily been anyone on the pitch.
“It’s always nice to get man of the match but I’m just happy with the three points.”
Prior to the match, the Australian was surprised to be greeted in the tunnel by his nephew Jaidyn, who walked onto the pitch by his uncle’s side.
Wright’s family are currently visiting from Down Under and the defender admits he is enjoying the chance to spend some quality time with them.
“I was very surprised actually, I didn’t know that I would be walking out on the pitch with him,” he said.
“He enjoyed it and it’s nice to have my family over at the moment to share what I’m doing over here, they don’t get to see it very often with Australia being so far away.
“So, obviously it was nice for me to experience and nice for them.”