Alan Browne felt it was important to come away with a victory over Coventry City, and he’s now looking for PNE to put together another winning run.
North End went into the match at Deepdale winless in seven, following an astonishing start to the season which saw the side go eight unbeaten, with six consecutive victories making up part of that spell.
The Lilywhites deservedly came out on top on Saturday against Mark Robins’ side, with Duane Holmes, Milutin Osmajić, and the skipper himself getting on the scoresheet to earn all three points.
Browney said: “The most important thing coming here today was to get a win.
“We’ve found it difficult in the last few weeks; I think we’ve been a bit unfortunate.
“We’ve come up against some difficult sides and in this league it’s always going to be tough, so we knew it wasn’t the time to get too down about it after such a good start, and I think today was really important that we got a win.
“The game had a bit of everything in it, but we found a way to win it and that’s all that matters.
“I think today was all about the three points so we’re pleased we got them and we can just move forward now, and hopefully try and put another winning streak together.”
PNE fell behind against the run of play in the 33rd minute as Haji Wright tapped home from close range, but a quickfire double from Holmes and Browne sent the hosts into the break a goal to the good.
Osmajić’s header on the end of Liam Millar’s cross then extended the advantage and, despite another tap-in from Wright seven minutes from time, Ryan Lowe’s men held on for the club’s 2,000th league win.
It’s not the first time this season they’ve come from a losing position to earn points, either.
The skipper said: “We dominated that first half if we’re being realistic and we deserved to go into the half in the lead.
“When you go behind in this division in particular it is really difficult to get back into games, so it’s definitely a good trait to have because we’ve done it a few times now.
“It’s a good confidence thing to have as well, knowing that when you do go behind we’ve got such a good record of coming back, so once we did we just had to make sure that we saw the game out and that’s something that we really do best.
“I know we haven’t done it as well as we should have in recent weeks but we’re going to have ups and downs throughout the season.
“We’re still in a great position so we just need to continue putting in performances and hopefully picking up results.”
It’s a good time for North End to have brought the winless run to an end, with a Lancashire derby against Blackburn Rovers next on the cards.
Having faced Rovers ten times as a PNE player – scoring twice and assisting another five – there’s probably no one in the squad who knows more about the fixture than the club captain.
Browney added: “Today was about coming here and getting a win, regardless of how that looked. Whether it was pretty or not, it was all about the three points, and I think it’s the same on Friday.
“It’s a derby game. It means a lot, but at the end of the day the result is all that matters.
“I couldn’t care less about the performance as long as we come away from there with a win, if not a draw.
“But hopefully we can do enough to give the fans the bragging rights.”