Neil Kilkenny is hoping the style of the Championship suits his and the Lilywhites’ style of play as they get ready for the big kick-off.
North End play in front of the Sky cameras on ‘Super Sunday’, with Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough the visitors to Deepdale. Midfielder Neil Kilkenny says the team are ready for the step up and is looking forward to more of an opportunity to play the game ‘the right way’.
“We’ve had a good pre-season; got some games under our belt and got some match fitness in,” he told the official website. “We’ve been injury free and hopefully now we are ready for the start of the season.
“There will be more football played; which is a good thing. Teams will let you play a bit more, but in the final third they will also kill you off better. Teams are more clinical in front of goal, at both ends of the pitch, so we can’t give the ball away as much as we have done the last two seasons.
“We are all looking forward to pitting our wits against some good teams and hopefully we can push again.
“The game should be played like that no matter what. We are all good footballers at the Club, so no matter who plays, hopefully they can handle the pressure of taking the ball and keeping the ball and hopefully we can do that this season.
“We have some good footballers in the dressing room and we will be looking to keep it out at one end and score the goals at the other and kill teams off at both ends.”
The first opponents of the new campaign played at Wembley less than 24 hours after North End had earned their place in the second tier, however, they didn’t attain the success they craved and will now want to go one better in 2015/16.
“They have some good players and last season they had a good year,” continued PNE’s No.8. “They have lost a few players and we have brought some players in ourselves.
“We had a good season last year ending with a great day at Wembley and hopefully we can take that into the first day of the season.
“Our last game we had to go out and perform on the big stage and we did that. It was disappointing on the last day of the season, when we should have gone up automatically, but it was a great day out at Wembley and hopefully we can take that into the first game of the season.”
The 29-year-old has played a lot of games in the Championship already in his career and feels that Deepdale is well-prepared for what is to come: “It is a big Club and Deepdale is a fantastic stadium and a nice place to come and watch football.
“Hopefully we can come and watch us playing good football this year, passing the ball well and possibly playing better football than at times last season. We are up against some big teams, but we are all looking forward to it and playing in front of some big crowds, so hopefully we can get plenty along to watch.
“I have said before that the facilities, the stadium and the fan base of this Club are fantastic. It has a great history and deserves to be playing in one of the top leagues and the Championship is one of the best leagues in Europe, competitively, and hopefully we can be fighting at the top of it, pushing to get in the Premier League, having a really good season, winning games and showing how good we are,” he added.