Preston North End midfielder Ben Pearson is looking to Saturday’s visit of Wigan Athletic and targeting getting the team’s first points of the season.
The Lilywhites’ No.4 reflected on the opening day defeat at Millwall and felt it was a game they have to learn from and move on.
“It was not nice to lose that first game,” he said. “Millwall away is a tough place to start and their style of football caused us more problems that we probably expected. We didn’t deal with that first ball up to Smith; it is difficult when you don’t win the ball, because you are always on the back foot and that seemed to be the case.
“They are a tough team to play against; they are very direct and the midfield gets missed out a lot and it was a disappointing performance. It is one we have to take on the chin – it wasn’t good enough.
“They played okay for their style of football, but we shouldn’t worry too much, it’s one game and we will crack on now.
“It was tough for myself personally to get on the ball and get the game going; they sit back in with a bank of two and then a bank of four with the two strikers sitting in on me and Gally, so it was difficult to get play going and then when they get it they lump it up to the big man, so I didn’t have too much action to deal with and it passed me quite a lot.
“It happens in the Championship, you get all sorts of different styles, it was just one of those you have to deal with better.”
But with a local derby to begin the Deepdale campaign, Pearo believes the team need to register a win and make sure they don’t leave a gap to the teams at the top.
“It is one to look forward to and one we have to look at winning,” continued the former Manchester United man. “They have started well and they have recruited well over the summer, but we need to get the points on board as quickly as possible and that begins against Wigan on Saturday.
“They have signed well. They have a little bit of money behind them at the minute and they are signing good Championship players who have that experience and they will be looking to kick on this season. They probably struggled a bit more than they would have liked last year, but it is too early to tell who is going to do well this year.
“You look at the first day results and there were some surprising scorelines, Fulham being beat by Barnsley and Cardiff being beaten. It is just a case of getting your eye in at this stage of the season and starting as quick as you can.
“The most important thing this season is to not leave ourselves short. Last year we had a bad start and we were playing catch up and then you end up having to have that ten or 15 game run just to get yourselves back up there.
“We don’t want to be lagging behind and having to put five, six or seven wins together on the spin, we need that leeway, because you are not going to perform as a team every week. As long as you are consistent with your performances and your work ethic, then you should be okay, it is just that sometimes styles don’t suit you and players don’t perform, that is just life.”
And with a fully fit squad, there is plenty of competition for places to try and register that first three-pointer of the 2019/20 season.
“We have got a good healthy squad of players now. We probably have 22 or 23 players who could all start at the weekend.
“It is nice to have those players fit and healthy; we are not used to that over the last couple of years, so training is good and everyone is doing well at the moment,” he added.