Alan Browne has praised the atmosphere and buzz around Deepdale as Alex Neil's side close in on the Play-Offs.
After the players and manager spoke of the importance of Tuesday night’s game, the PNE faithful created an atmosphere to match the brilliant performance in the victory over Bristol City and Browne feels that the fans have just as vital a role as the players do, leading into the final games of the season.
“I strongly believe that. We were talking about it before the Bristol game that it was a huge game and we needed the fans behind us. I don’t think it was our largest number of the season but it was probably the best buzz around the place that we have had for a long time,” he told iFollowPNE.
“That really gives you the belief, not just for us as the players but as a whole, the fans, the staff included, that we know we can achieve something big and we will need that buzz and the numbers coming through the gates from now to the end of season to push us over the line.
“We know how big each game is and we take each game as it comes and treat it as a cup final. We’ll put our all into every game from now until the end of the season like we have been doing but we know just how much each game will mean individually and we’ll have to really focus on Saturday now, get the three points then move on from there.”
As a man in form, PNE’s number eight isn’t lacking in confidence in the moment. He added to his personal Goal of the Season competition on Tuesday with a perfect chip from outside the area, but that hasn’t really affected his confidence levels.
“It’s definitely high anyway! As with the rest of the boys, we’re playing some great football. We’re turning those good performances into wins now which is important for us because over the last few weeks we’ve been playing really well haven’t been managing to get wins.
“That’s all we wanted really, we wanted to cut out the draws and turn them into wins and fortunately we’ve managed to do that at a good time and hopefully we continue to do so.
“It’s good to be scoring any goals, as I always say, but to score some good goals really puts you out there and you get noticed for it so it’s good to score goals like that; but I’d take anything at this stage as long as we add to the score line and get the three points that’s all that matters.”
The Irishman is aware of Fulham’s form coming into Saturday’s game, but is also aware of North End’s – and he’s determined to extend the Lilywhite’s run at the expense of our visitors.
“They probably picked up more wins than us in that run so they’re probably more in form than us but we have a great record, to lose two in 20 is fantastic. We won’t be looking to add any losses to that, we’ll be looking to add three points to our tally.
“We know it’s going to be a tough test because we know the quality they have in their team and when you’re in form like that then your confidence is high; so they’ll be coming here looking for the three points but we’ll do our best to make sure we send them away with nothing.”
The impact of Sean Maguire has been clear to see since his return from a long-term injury, with two decisive goals against Bolton on Gentry Day and the winner on Tuesday night, but Browne was full of praise for all of the recent subs, as well as his fellow countryman.
“He’s fantastic. We knew how good he was at the start of the season but with Jordan [Hugill] being in the team he wasn’t playing as a nine, he was playing out wide and he was still fantastic for us but I don’t think we’d seen the best of him.
"He’s as hungry as ever and we can see that in training and as we’ve seen in the last two games.”
“Against Bolton, he and Josh [Harrop] came on and changed the game for us. Josh has that quality to open up defences, he sees a pass that others might not see; Seani can get on the end of things and we saw that. Again, in the last game, DJ came on and played a fantastic through ball.
“The second you see Seani take off you know it’s a goal. I just stopped, I knew he was going to score. It’s great to have someone like that because they don’t come around too often. When you see them get the ball, you know they’re going to score.
“At the same time I think he’ll have tough competition because Callum Robinson has been fantastic up there, he’s been quality since Jordan left. He’s really given it his all and he’s given us a different dimension; we’re really playing to his strengths and managing to score more goals as a result.”
You can watch the full interview with Alan Browne on iFollowPNE by clicking on the video above.