Josh Onomah felt it was important to get minutes under his belt as he netted a brace for Preston North End reserves in the 3-0 Central League victory over Blackpool.
His opener came after just seven minutes, as the January signing drilled a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner from just outside the box – his first goal in a North End shirt.
On the other side of a Liam Delap finish, Onomah’s second of the afternoon came in the 50th minute. Following a run in the box, he took the ball in his stride and calmly slotted home into the middle of the net, past the Blackpool ‘keeper.
Delighted with the result, he believes that getting up to full speed – after not featuring too often in the first half of the campaign for Fulham – is one of his top priorities, with goals being the added bonus.
“The plan was to get a run out, get a game in to help with my fitness and I’ve done that today, so that was the main thing today,” he said, speaking to iFollow PNE.
“I feel like any game that I play in, whether it be reserves, first team, friendlies, I feel if you get a goal it’s important to keep up with the habits and make it a regular thing.
“I feel like it’s important for us to come in and make sure we do things right and not go through the motions, like the manager said, and I feel like we’ve done that today.”
A strong victory over their Lancashire rivals highlighted the chemistry that the new midfielder is building with his fellow teammates, such as Delap, who provided the assist for his first goal.
Onomah believes that the positive experience can now put him into contention to feature in league action.
He said: “When I first came in, me and the management had an understanding that I had to get fit and make sure I was in the right place physically, to be ready to come to the team and that’s what I’ve been working on the last four or five weeks.
“I feel like playing that match today has helped top that off, so we’ll see what happens from now - this match definitely helped us all.
“Obviously it’s hard with the fixtures of the Championship to get games in, like reserve games, so to get one in really helped today.
“I’ve been doing extras after training, doing what I can to get myself to match speed and match fitness and that’s what I’ve been doing, so anything else that I can try and do – that’s what I’m going to do to make sure I’m ready to give the manager a headache.”