Crewe Alexandra were one of the only teams to do the double over the Lilywhites last season and manager Simon Grayson is looking to change his luck against the Railwaymen.
The Lilywhites face their final game of 2014 at Gresty Road and will have to be at their best to get the right result, the Alex in fine form over the festive period so far.
Speaking ahead of his side’s latest away trip, the PNE gaffer admitted that it will be a stern test of his side’s eight match unbeaten run.
“They had been struggling down the bottom until the last few weeks, but they then had a fantastic result against Bristol City and followed that up with a good performance and victory at Oldham, so if there was ever a reminder to our players of what a tough game it will be, that is it,” said the manager.
“We will go there in good spirits after the last two results we had, either side of Christmas Day, and we will be looking to get another result to end 2014 on a high.
“They were one of the only teams to do the double over us last season – so we want to go there and put a victory on the board against them.
“We have done that already this season – gone to grounds and got results where we had not previously had favourable results over the years and so we go to Crewe on Sunday looking for the right result.”
And with the year drawing to a close - in footballing terms - after the game, the 45-year-old admitted he wanted to start the new year with momentum.
“We went into the Christmas period trying to get as many results as possible and we have had the perfect start.
“We want to try and maintain that now and get nine out of nine.
“We have to keep winning matches – you look at the results that the other teams keep getting, they keep winning, so we need to keep focusing on ourselves and doing our own job.
“It is going to be a tough test for the players, given that some of them will have to play two games in the space of 48 hours, but we will go again and put out a team that hopefully will get us the three points,” he added.
Speaking ahead of his side’s latest away trip, the PNE gaffer admitted that it will be a stern test of his side’s eight match unbeaten run.
“They had been struggling down the bottom until the last few weeks, but they then had a fantastic result against Bristol City and followed that up with a good performance and victory at Oldham, so if there was ever a reminder to our players of what a tough game it will be, that is it,” said the manager.
“We will go there in good spirits after the last two results we had, either side of Christmas Day, and we will be looking to get another result to end 2014 on a high.
“They were one of the only teams to do the double over us last season – so we want to go there and put a victory on the board against them.
“We have done that already this season – gone to grounds and got results where we had not previously had favourable results over the years and so we go to Crewe on Sunday looking for the right result.”
And with the year drawing to a close - in footballing terms - after the game, the 45-year-old admitted he wanted to start the new year with momentum.
“We went into the Christmas period trying to get as many results as possible and we have had the perfect start.
“We want to try and maintain that now and get nine out of nine.
“We have to keep winning matches – you look at the results that the other teams keep getting, they keep winning, so we need to keep focusing on ourselves and doing our own job.
“It is going to be a tough test for the players, given that some of them will have to play two games in the space of 48 hours, but we will go again and put out a team that hopefully will get us the three points,” he added.