Preston North End midfielder Alan Browne wants to go into the final international break of the calendar year on the back of another positive result.
The Lilywhites face in-form Huddersfield Town this weekend at Deepdale and the Irish international is well aware of the threat they will pose, but believes the confidence of the squad is something they have to look to build on.
“It is important we finish this section of the season well, going into the international break,” said the No.8 when speaking to iFollow PNE to preview the Roses clash.
“It would be brilliant to get the extra three points, but it is going to be a tough test. It will be difficult, but we have given ourselves a really good opportunity with the start we have had this year and we want to add to that and that starts Saturday, which would put us in a good place before the break.
“Speaking to the gaffer earlier, he mentioned they were seven unbeaten and I didn’t realise it was that long of a run.
“It is really difficult to do in this league, we are well aware of that and they have some really good players in their team who can cause you problems.
“It is going to be a tough test; the form they are in speaks for itself. It won’t be a pushover, but we are also in good form and we know that we are more than capable of beating any team in this league and that’s the way we have to look at it.
“We have to go into it full of confidence and try and build on what has so far been a great season.”
The Cork-born man feels that the weekend’s opponents are starting to show their true side now, after a tough start to the 2019/20 campaign.
“They would have been really disappointed [with their start to the season], but looking at it from the perspective of being in the Championship for the past few years, it is probably not surprising,” he continued.
“Any team who comes down initially finds it difficult and it takes some time to find your feet.
“It is much more hectic than the Premier League, you don’t get as much break and they have probably landed on their feet now.
“The change of manager has worked and it is looking good for them, but we have nothing to fear with the form we are in, we can look to win every game.”
The Lilywhites received a boost when they went top with Sunday’s 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic at The Valley and even though that only lasted for just over 24 hours, Alan feels it has given the side some extra motivation.
“It was nice [to go top]. We haven’t been top since we have got back to the Championship, so it was nice to see the table and know that we were top, but we knew West Brom had the game in hand and they got the result they deserved.
“They have had a fantastic start as well, but we just have to keep winning games.
“There is a long season ahead; you don’t win anything in November and we are not going to get ahead of ourselves.
“We are not going to live off being top of the league for one day, we have to go and match the performances we have in so far for the rest of the season.
“You are going to have your bad patches, everyone goes through a bad spell, but we have to keep grinding out results, home and away, and see where that takes us,” he added.