Preston North End forward Callum Robinson has returned from Irish international duty and is heading to Hull City looking for a repeat of his late heroics last season.
The Lilywhites scored in the final minutes at the KCOM Stadium, with a close-range finish from the North End No.7 giving them a 2-1 win over the Tigers.
This week he has been on duty for his country, making an impact as a substitute against Denmark, before starting Tuesday’s clash with Wales in Dublin and despite the results, he believes it was another good development experience.
He is happy to admit that his game has moved on again in 2018/19 and is very clear in why that is, as he explained when he sat down at Springfields with iFollow PNE after his return to training.
“It was a good trip away personally, but obviously the results didn’t go our way,” he said. “It was another two weeks of training with some top players. Some are Premier League players, where we are all striving to be, so it helps me improve as a player and now I am back with the boys here and ready for the weekend.
“Roy Keane came up to me after the game and said ‘that was a good learning experience for you’ and it was another different environment, my first game at the AVIVA Stadium and all these experiences are good for me, helping me deal with the atmospheres and I really have enjoyed it and hopefully I can now bring that back to PNE.
“I think the gaffer here is a big part [of his improvement]. I always try to be positive and give me all, but the gaffer has seen my quality and where I should be and given me that belief and confidence that I can do it.”
The form of Robinson, Tom Barkhuizen, Lukas Nmecha and the return of Sean Maguire ensures manager Alex Neil has plenty of options in attack, someone Callum is relishing.
“It is great to have competition,” he continued. “The more players we can have at the top end of the pitch getting goals and assists, that is what we all want and it will help the team.
“It is great to have Seani back. He got 30 minutes the other night and that is a big plus.
“Lukas has been playing really well the last couple of games and has been really unlucky not to get a goal yet, but that will come if he keeps performing as he has been doing.”
The trip to Humberside is a tough test, despite their league position, and armed with memories of his winning-goal last season, the striker hopes another building block can be put in place with a positive performance and result.
“Hopefully we can go there and get the result we all want.
“We have to start the week off strongly. We have some big games coming up and some winnable games and we will go into this first game confident and looking to do the same as last year.
“We can try and kick on now.
“We are looking to get a few wins this week and with this league, everyone knows what it is like, you can quickly move up it and with a big away following this weekend, they can help us to get a result. It is good the fans are coming out in their numbers to back us and we will try and use that,” he added.