North End boss Simon Grayson is looking forward to a week of hard work and tough fixtures, but is looking for two positive results on the road.
The PNE boss and his staff are taking the team down to Charlton and staying in the south east to prepare for the clash with early pace-setters Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend.
“We are going down and staying down in the south east for the week,” he said as he previewed the trip to Charlton. “It gives us a chance to get together as a group, work from our training base and then head to Brighton on Friday afternoon.
“It would be a lot of travelling up and down the country otherwise, so it is a good opportunity to work hard together and prepare right for two tough games, but two where we also know that if we play to our potential, we can get results out of.
“Being a professional footballer, as much as there is glamour attached to it, can be monotonous training at the same place day in, day out, but we are in a privileged position and the break can refresh the physical and mental batteries and we will hopefully come back with two positive results on Saturday night.”
The manager’s attacking options will be swelled this week with Eoin Doyle available for the Addicks clash and then Joe Garner back for the clash with the Seagulls and he is delighted with the extra fire-power.
“We saw at Sheffield Wednesday when Eoin and Jordan Hugill came on we were very good. They were big parts on why we nearly got back into that game,” he continued.
“Eoin has proved he is a goalscorer We have a lot of options now in that area. After Tuesday night’s game Garns will be back, having missed four of the last five games through suspension and we now have the options to change things around if we need to.
“We would like whoever plays just to score any sort of goal that becomes a catalyst for them to kick on and for us to get some results. No matter who scores we feel that if we take the opportunities that come along we can get the results and start progressing up the table.”
The opponents on Tuesday night have had a difficult few weeks after impressing at the start of the campaign, but like all the matches in the second tier, the gaffer is ready for the challenge.
“They started the season well, but have had a difficult last couple of weeks. They have been struggling with one or two injuries as well, but that is the nature of the Championship.
“There are no easy games, no matter who you are playing against and we will go to The Valley, having worked on a few things we think we can hurt them with and we have to try and build on the performance from Saturday.
“Over the last few weeks we haven’t been at our maximum, but we haven’t played really poorly either, so we will go to Charlton in a very positive manner, trying to get three points and moving us in the right direction up that table,” he added.