Ryan Ledson believes he and his team-mates can replicate the performance they put in last season against Huddersfield Town when they meet on Tuesday evening.
Preston North End came out 2-1 winners last season at the John Smith’s Stadium, with two goals from Alan Browne in the second half turning the game on its head.
PNE travel there again on Tuesday for the third game of the Championship season, looking for their first victory in the league.
“We all know that we need to be better,” Ryan told iFollow PNE. “I think it’s a good opportunity to go to Huddersfield and try and get three points.
“Obviously we had a positive result there last year. Browney got two so hopefully we can replicate that and get three points.”
Huddersfield themselves head into the game without a league victory yet, drawing on the opening day against Derby County, before being beaten 5-1 by Fulham.
That could, of course, work both ways as the Terriers could show up as a side low on confidence, or a team wanting to right their previous wrongs.
Ryan said: “We know what the Championship’s like. It’s a tough league and with our run of form and their run of form it’s a very important game.
“I think obviously we need to perform better and hopefully we can do that and pick up three points.
“If we get points on the board then things will start looking up. Obviously we’re under a bit of pressure at the minute to get points on the board and obviously Tuesday night and Saturday against Peterborough at home are two good opportunities for that.
“It’s obviously difficult with two losses in two. It’s up to us as players, no one else can do it, staff and players have got to stick together and we’ll get through it.”
North End have endured tough starts to the season previously, with the 2018/19 campaign an example of where PNE won just once in the opening 11 games before going on to make a push towards the Play-Off places.
Ryan feels that previous experience of turning things around offers the team some confidence.
He said: “We had it last year too when we got beat I think it was the first five home games, but listen, them two games are gone now, we’ve got to look forward and pick up points.
“We’ll all stick together, we’re a close-knit group and we’re just trying to pull each other through, some of us are going through a bit of a rough time but we can get through it.
“Obviously there’s a few of us [senior members] in there: Browney, DJ, Ched [Evans], Greg [Cunningham]. We’ve all got to step up.
“I don’t think any of us have played to our potential and we all need to perform better. We need to do that as a squad, the staff need to as well and hopefully it’ll start picking up.”
Watch Ryan’s full interview now on iFollow PNE.