Manager Simon Grayson believes winning the first game of three in a week was a big boost for his side as they prepare for a trip to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Speaking ahead of the first of back-to-back Championship away games the gaffer feels that it is always important to get off to a good start when you have three games in the space of seven days.
“When you have three games in a week it is a real boost to get that first win in the opening game as it can hopefully set you up for the rest of the week,” he said. “Which is why we knew Saturday was an important result for us.
“You are not playing catch up or feeling under any pressure. Every game in the Championship is tough, but it does settle you down and means the other games can be a bonus.
“We are looking forward to it. The City Ground is a good place to go and play, with a good atmosphere. They have had some pretty eventful games over the past few weeks; Barnsley was a high-scoring game, Newcastle was against nine men and then a local derby on Sunday.
“They have some good players; they play a different formation and whether they change personnel or systems, we don’t know, but we are as prepared for this as we are for all the other games.
“If you win a couple of games it can catapult you up the division and if they’d won on Sunday they would have been very close to the Play-Offs. They are a team that scores plenty of goals, but the stats suggest they have conceded them too.”
Forest could have been on the cusp of the Play-Offs before losing their own local derby clash at the weekend, but the PNE chief is hoping the Lilywhites players channel the same sort of performances they have shown on the road in the last couple of months.
“They are all tough away games in the Championship,” he continued. “They have spent a lot of money, have some experienced players, but hopefully we can replicate some of the performances we have had on the road in the last few weeks, at Rotherham, Norwich, Brighton and Birmingham.
“I don’t know too much about the manager, but I am sure he doesn’t know too much about me either! But he will be pleased with how they have done attacking wise.
“We have highlighted their strengths and weaknesses and stated how we want to implement our own plans and tactics and hopefully we can do that.
“I went to the Newcastle game, where I only really learnt anything for the first half an hour, but I saw the game at the weekend as well and we have had them watched three or four times, but whatever we leant, it is still about what we do.
“If we can be solid and be ruthless in box boxes, we can have a chance to win the game.”
“When you have three games in a week it is a real boost to get that first win in the opening game as it can hopefully set you up for the rest of the week,” he said. “Which is why we knew Saturday was an important result for us.
“You are not playing catch up or feeling under any pressure. Every game in the Championship is tough, but it does settle you down and means the other games can be a bonus.
“We are looking forward to it. The City Ground is a good place to go and play, with a good atmosphere. They have had some pretty eventful games over the past few weeks; Barnsley was a high-scoring game, Newcastle was against nine men and then a local derby on Sunday.
“They have some good players; they play a different formation and whether they change personnel or systems, we don’t know, but we are as prepared for this as we are for all the other games.
“If you win a couple of games it can catapult you up the division and if they’d won on Sunday they would have been very close to the Play-Offs. They are a team that scores plenty of goals, but the stats suggest they have conceded them too.”
Forest could have been on the cusp of the Play-Offs before losing their own local derby clash at the weekend, but the PNE chief is hoping the Lilywhites players channel the same sort of performances they have shown on the road in the last couple of months.
“They are all tough away games in the Championship,” he continued. “They have spent a lot of money, have some experienced players, but hopefully we can replicate some of the performances we have had on the road in the last few weeks, at Rotherham, Norwich, Brighton and Birmingham.
“I don’t know too much about the manager, but I am sure he doesn’t know too much about me either! But he will be pleased with how they have done attacking wise.
“We have highlighted their strengths and weaknesses and stated how we want to implement our own plans and tactics and hopefully we can do that.
“I went to the Newcastle game, where I only really learnt anything for the first half an hour, but I saw the game at the weekend as well and we have had them watched three or four times, but whatever we leant, it is still about what we do.
“If we can be solid and be ruthless in box boxes, we can have a chance to win the game.”