Preston North End midfielder Neil Kilkenny wants to make Sir Tom Finney proud by achieving promotion this season.
The Aussie midfielder, along with the rest of the PNE first team squad, attended Sir Tom’s funeral on Thursday afternoon.
And he is hoping to give the great man the perfect send off, with a place secured in the Championship.
Speaking exclusively to PNE.Com, Kilkenny said: “An event like being in attendance at Sir Tom Finney’s funeral can only help inspire us.
“I have only heard good things about the player, the man and it was an emotional day for everyone, the Club, his family, the players, the fans and hopefully we can do him proud by getting promoted this season.
“We are focused on getting promoted, but when you see a legend like that, it is a great honour to have been there and to hear about someone who put so much back into the Club and working for the Club; we want to do him proud.
“And hopefully we can do that by getting promoted, because it would be a fantastic send off for him.
“This is a big Club with a lot of tradition, I knew that when I came here and it has got the potential to be a massive Club with the city and the stadium, the training ground, the facilities and everyone involved with the Club, the fans, and we need to just concentrate on getting three points every game and if we do that we will be right in the mix to get promoted.”
The Lilywhites welcome Walsall to Deepdale this Saturday for their second home fixture in the space of five days as the season picks up the pace once more.
And the North End No.37 is looking forward to what he hopes will be a decent football match.
“Saturday will be another good game; everyone is looking forward to a bit of a style change,” added the midfielder.
“Walsall pass the ball a bit more than Rotherham and it is another game we are looking forward to.
“We are a good football team as well, so hopefully it will be an exciting game with us coming out as winners at the end of it.
“Personally, I prefer playing a lot of games in quick succession rather than training and most players are like that.
“It is always best to play games and we are all looking forward to it.”
March sees Preston play seven matches in 29 big days in determining their League One destiny.
And Kilkenny is hoping that with a few more draws turning into three points; PNE can be where they want to be for that final push.
He continued: “Every month of the season is big, but obviously when you come towards the end of the season, everyone looks at it even more and we just need to concentrate on winning games.
“Hopefully, if we can carry on doing well, we can turn some of these draws in to wins and that will leave us in a great position.
“After the first ten minutes against Rotherham, we played well and dominated them really.
“Obviously we got a draw and against Colchester we didn’t play as well but we grinded out a result, so it is more about the three points than the performances now.”