It feels like he’s been at Deepdale a while now, but Adam Reach was only unveiled an hour before kick-off at the last home game.
The Middlesbrough loanee has settled in quickly and looked an excellent addition to manager Simon Grayson’s squad in his two games so far. Speaking to PNE.Com ahead of his second home appearance he felt that the two week break was useful.
“The international break has come at a good time for me,” the No.32 told the official website. “It has given me a chance to really get to know the lads and have a two week period training with them every day, without the pressures of a match at the weekend, but I am looking forward to the match on Saturday.
“We have trained well this week. The lads who have been away on international duty are back now and we will have two more days good training before Saturday.
“The Wolves game was a real baptism of fire for me.
“It was a bit of a carnival – you won’t get many games like, going down to nine men and then getting so close to holding on for the three points. I am hoping that the home game on Saturday will be just as exciting with regards to the way we play and the way the supporters get behind us and hopefully we can get the right result.”
Those supporters he mentions were full of voice, trying to assist the ten and then nine-men of PNE against their Black Country opponents and the young winger feels they really played their part.
“The supporters that day were magnificent,” he continued.
“The fans are the most important people – that was a real example of where the saying ‘the 12th man’ comes from.
“The fans can get on top of the away team and put pressure on them and I am expecting again that on Saturday they will be fantastic again and we can pick up the three points and start climbing the table.
“There was a lot of confidence that could be taken from the performance against Wolves. Even though we only came away with the draw, there were a lot of positives to take.
“When we were down to ten men in the first half we held our own and had some more chances to extend the lead. It becomes even more difficult when you go down to nine men, but we took a lot of positives from it.
“When you step up a division, the quality is intensified and you have to make less mistakes, because you will be punished for them. We didn’t make mistakes against Wolves, but we were punished for getting two men sent off and we need to bear that in mind for the games coming up.
“If we concentrate for 90 minutes our qualities will shine through and we will get the results we are looking for.”
Three weeks in since his arrival and the 22-year-old feels part of the furniture: “I’m thoroughly enjoying my time here. I have got to know the lads a bit more and the management staff, as well as the town itself, and – as I have said - the international break came at the right time.
“Games are now coming thick and fast and I am looking forward to that. We have the home game on Saturday and then two tough away trips, but to stay in this Championship and do well in this league you have to go to tough places like Charlton and Brighton and perform and bring points back.
“The Championship is maybe the craziest league in the world, because you can be flying and then maybe you lose a couple of games and you find yourself in trouble and the reverse of that and that’s what I am hoping can happen for us.
“We shouldn’t look too much at the table at this point, but it we can get three points on Saturday and then get a couple of positive results in the week, we could find ourselves sneaking towards the top half and if you continue that then the Play-Offs aren’t too far away at this point.
“The best thing we can do though is take each game at a time and concentrate on Cardiff and trying to win that game.”