Preston North End midfielder Ryan Ledson is ready and raring to go again after a man of the match display against Aston Villa at the weekend.
The PNE No.18 put in an excellent display in the middle of the park and says that the Lilywhites can take that into their first game of 2019 when they travel to the New York Stadium to face Rotherham United on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking to iFollow PNE ahead of the trip across the Pennines, the summer recruit said that the manager had stressed the need to be positive ahead of the Villa game and that he was delighted to play his part in the display.
“Saturday was a very good performance,” he said. “We came up against a very good side in Villa, who have spent a lot of money and it could have been very easy for us to feel sorry for ourselves, with all the lads we have missing through injury, but we dug deep and got a positive result.
“The gaffer stressed that we shouldn’t feel hard done to. It was about the players who have not necessarily had a lot of game time and try and fight for the shirt and I think all the lads did that and it just shows what a great squad, with a good togetherness, we have got and everyone was brilliant.
“If I get the opportunity to get on the pitch I will try and give 100 per cent every time and the main thing was to get the point in the end, although I thought we should have got three. We go onto Rotherham now though and we’ll look to get three points there.”
Ryan came up against Paul Warne’s side twice last season, when he was with Oxford United, and he is well aware of the threat they pose.
“They got promoted last season from League One and I came up against them a couple of times there and they are a real tough side,” he continued.
“The manager loves to get into players; they play 4-5-1 with the big lad upfront, who they try to hit, and they like to compact the midfield.
“I have played there [at the New York Stadium] a few times, it is a good stadium and a good atmosphere and we will have to certainly win the battle first before we can start playing.”
However, the 21-year-old Scouser feels that if the Lilywhites can repeat the performance they put in against the Villans, they have got a good chance of starting the new year off in positive style.
“If we can get the same performance as Saturday then we hope it will be good enough.
“We have had a lot of games in not so many days, but recovery has been good, we have prepared and we will be ready to go again.
“The recovery is key. The sports scientists make sure we don’t do too much. We have the recovery shakes and the ice baths and it is just a case of getting the body ready to go again,” he added.