Josh Earl is excited by the prospect of finishing the season in the Play-Off places in just his first year of professional football.
Earl would not have been tipped by many this season to break through into the North End first team picture so quickly but having taken his chance when it came along, he’s proved he is more than capable of competing at Championship level.
The young left back spoke to iFollowPNE about his short but successful career so far, saying:
“The last 12 months have been amazing for me, especially since becoming a professional footballer I’ve had the best six months of my career so far – and the first six months of my career.
“My first opportunity came when Greg got injured, you never wish an injury on anyone but any opportunity you get, you’ve got to take it no matter what the circumstances. I’m grateful for the opportunity I was given but you would never wish an injury on someone.
“It’s been exciting and we’re all excited as well to see if we can push for the Play-Offs and we’ve just got to keep pushing now.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before and all the players have which is a good thing; so they can guide me, push me and help me. We’re all pushing for it and we’re all really excited and we’re all ready for it.”
Having stepped in for an injured Greg Cunningham in the win away at Sunderland, Earl looked at what playing in a stadium of that size could mean for the team next season.
“The atmosphere wasn’t the best because of what’s going on at Sunderland but It’s a really good stadium.
“That’s a taster for the boys of what we’re pushing for now. We could be playing in stadiums like that and better every week, and we are capable of doing that.
“We just have to push for the last few games now and try and get as many points as possible and see what we can do.”
With the international break giving some of the squad the chance to rest, North End’s No. 32 is adamant the squad will be fearless in their pursuit of the Play-Offs once Championship action returns on Good Friday.
“It’s going to be good for the boys, we all need to get a bit of rest in. Rest is very important, especially at this point in the season, everyone is carrying little injuries.
“We’re going to work hard when we come back. We’re just going to push and push to get as many points as possible with however many games we’ve got.
“We can’t be fearful of not getting results because that happens in this league, because it’s a difficult league to play in; but we have to try and push to get as many results as possible.
“All of the lads are devastated if we don’t get the result we wanted but we just have to push and try and get the three points. That’s all we can do really and I think we’re doing a good job of it at the moment.”
You can watch the full interview with Josh Earl by clicking on the video above.