Greg Cunningham is hoping PNE can avenge their defeat against Barnsley earlier this season when they travel to Oakwell on Saturday afternoon.
North End were on the end of a 2-1 defeat against the Tykes in the at Deepdale in September, and while Cunningham praised their start to the campaign, he also outlined PNE's desire to put right the loss in that reverse fixture.
“It’s a game we won’t be taking lightly at all. They’re a couple of points ahead of us in the table and we want to get some justice for the game that we lost at home earlier on in the season,” explained the 26-year-old.
“We’re going to go there looking to go and win the game to take us up the table again. We want to make sure we’re on the right end of the result and make sure that our performance is good, which it has been for the majority of this season, and we want to get back to winning ways.”
While praising Saturday’s opponents, Cunningham also drew comparisons with the current North End set-up.
He added: “I was speaking to Connor Hourihane before he left and he said there’s great chemistry in that dressing room and they work very hard for each other, similar to what’s in here.
“We do have that togetherness which is vital in this league, so it will be a very tough game and we know what they’re about with obviously playing them earlier on in the season.”
Speaking ahead of the trip to Oakwell, Cunningham continued: “They’ve been doing very well and the manager, Paul Heckingbottom, has done a great job so far.
“I think they were the surprise package in the league with the way they crept up the table in league one last year to go through the play-offs, and they’ve kept that momentum going. They’re only a few points outside the play-offs and they’ve had a great start to the season – fair play to them.
“It’s not ideal to lose the players that they have in the January transfer market but that’s football. They’ve brought in players that can do just as good a job as the players that have left, so it will be a tough game for us – we know that.
“But we’ll do our homework on the training pitch today and tomorrow and get ready for the game on Saturday.”