Josh Ginnelly believes he and his teammates are looking strong as PNE opened their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 win over Bamber Bridge.
Tom Clarke and Louis Moult scored in the first half of the encounter at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium, with the latter also having an effort disallowed for offside.
Ginnelly featured in the second half and looked a threat throughout, although the main focus of the game was to get minutes into the squad’s legs.
He said: “It was tough but all credit to Bamber Bridge. They were decent, we didn’t score many goals. It’s another good 45 minutes in our legs; the boys are looking strong.
“Everybody’s done their bit before pre-season and you can tell that’s paying off now. No one is behind and everybody is being pushed. We will all start the season as strong as we could possibly be.”
The winger is enjoying his first pre-season for the Lilywhites, having joined the club in January last season from Walsall.
The hard work put in at this stage will only benefit North End later down the line, according to Ginnelly.
“Everything the staff have done is actually what we need and not just punishing us to run. It’s going to help us in the long run from day one to the end of the season,” he said.
“You can ask any of the boys, if you don’t take that seriously it’s going to cost you.
“Games like this are about getting your technical skills back but also putting a shift in so that when we come up against bigger opposition, no disrespect to Bamber Bridge, but we’ll be fit enough to compete.”
You can watch the full interview with Josh Ginnelly by clicking on the video above.