North End travel across the Pennines this weekend to face an in-form Sheffield Wednesday side who have won their last three games.
The Lilywhites come into the game on the back of a hard-earned point against Wolves, with nine men, and the manager says that as the international break approaches, his side are now well aware of what the Championship is about and know what they need to do to improve.
“The atmosphere we had in Deepdale last weekend was fantastic. The supporters recognised what the players had done in that game to try and get a win,” said the gaffer.
“We have shown we are capable of playing in the Championship in every game. We let ourselves down in the second half against Brentford, but otherwise we have competed.
“If a few little breaks go for us, that we feel we have not had so far, hopefully down the line that will change. We are not using this as an excuse; we know we have to defend better as a team and attack better as a team if we are going to win matches.
“We are finding out that you don’t get as many chances. No matter how much effort you put in on the training ground, you don’t get as many clear cut chances in the Championship compared to League One.
“Teams have better defenders – that’s the bottom line. It is not that we are not creating chances, or getting balls in the right areas, we are, but you just need the breaks sometime, especially against better defenders. When we get half a chance we have to be more ruthless to take those opportunities.”
The visit to Hillsborough is one the PNE chief is looking forward to, although he admits that since the change of owners and the appointment of Carlos Carvalhal as coach, there has been plenty of change to the squad.
“There has been a big change around at Sheffield Wednesday, with the coach. They have spent a lot of money; a lot of players coming in from different countries.
“They have had a few good results and it is a good venue to go and play football. Hillsborough is a fantastic arena to go and play and we will be going there to win the game.
“They have players who can do things off the cuff, if Forestieri is fit and one or two others who can hurt you, but I am sure they will also be very respectful of what we have done over the last few weeks and will be worried that we can hurt them.
“If they don’t, then like any game in the Championship, we can go and win it,” he added.