Ben Davies admits he isn’t a good loser – and so the full focus is on finding the winning formula for the final 13 Championship games for PNE’s promotion charge.
The Barrow-born defender has become a regular at the back over the last three seasons, chalking up more than 100 games in a North End shirt, but he admits losing has never got any easier.
The 24-year-old told this weekend’s edition of The One And Only: “Defeats do hurt me. You do learn as you get older to try and learn from them rather than dwell on them but, after a defeat, I go home and I am moody.
“I struggle to get over it on the same day, I don’t want to go out or do anything.
“Normally the people who are closest to me get the brunt of it.
“They know how to deal with it by now though. That evening I am bad and then I can kind of pull myself together a bit. You do take it to heart but you can’t dwell on it too long.
“Luckily, you are in training before you know it and you have got to prepare for the next game, that’s the beauty of football that, although you have lost the game, there is another chance to win the next game and hopefully we can do that.
“And, on the other side of it, when we win I am fantastic, those closest to me love it, I am all good when we win!”
The 24-year-old has been at PNE since he was 11 and admits it’s a dream to play for them – but didn’t know whether he would make it when he was younger.
He had loan spells at York, Tranmere, Southport, Newport and Fleetwood and said it was the making of him to propel him to where he is today.
“I have played over 100 games now for PNE, it’s been fantastic to come all the way from the academy from really having no chance to making all these appearances.
“I had come through and I played three games as a 17-year-old and everything was fantastic because I was a young lad who had come through the ranks.
“I then spent a few seasons out on loan and I learnt something from every club I went to.
“I went to York, who were in League Two at the time, and I had just turned 18 and they were having a successful season.
“I learnt how to interact with a first team squad there. At PNE I played three games and was training with the senior players but I was very quiet and shy and I went to York and I learnt how to be a first team player, how to look after myself and how to socialise with adults.
“I went to Tranmere for a month and there I learnt about fans. It was a difficult time. They were in League Two and they were near the bottom and I learned influence fans can have and the different atmosphere to what it was like at York. I was about 19 and was only there a month.
“I then had a month at Southport, but was recalled by PNE due to injuries and after that I went to Newport County from January 2016 to the end of the season. The manager there told me I needed a rocket up my bum so you learn about different managers!
“I was then at Fleetwood from January 2017 until the end of the season under Uwe Rosler.
“At Fleetwood, I learnt how to be a centre back, I learnt about my position, the tricks of the trade as they say.
“It was similar to York really, we had good coaches at both clubs and them two were probably the ones where I learnt the most about little things which will help you in the games.”
There’s loads more from Ben in Saturday’s edition of the matchday programme, which also includes interviews and features with Tom Clarke, Josh Harrop, Andy Saville, Steve Wilkinson, Graeme Atkinson and more.
This is another packed full 84-pages, on sale from Friday afternoon from the Sir Tom Finney Stand ticket office, or from inside and outside the stadium on matchday, still for just £3 per copy.