PRESTON manager Alex Neil has enjoyed what he’s seen from his side in recent weeks and is urging his team to push on and finish the campaign strongly.
Neil has had the luxury of having a nearly fully fit squad to choose from in recent weeks, with players coming back from injury and new January arrivals at Deepdale. And the manager says that strength in numbers is benefiting his side. He told the club’s official website: “We’ve got a bit more experience in the team now which helps.”
Speaking after PNE’s goalless draw with top six side Derby in front of the Sky TV cameras at Deepdale, Neil said the team was moving in the right direction. And he added: “This first half of the season has been frustrating for everybody at the football club with injuries and suspensions, but now we’re getting them back - this is how good we can play.
“I’m not writing this season off - these next five to six games coming up, if we continue this form anything can happen. I’m enjoying it at the moment.”
Looking back he added: “Although we have had sporadic times where players have been available, they have not really all been at the same time. It has not been an easy season, management wise, to get the best from the players, because they have not been all available.
“Now we have found a bit of an even keel and we are starting to show the best of ourselves. We have done okay; considering where we have been with injuries and who we have had missing.”
He added: “We have got a lot of our players back and we have recruited very well in the window and we have become more difficult to beat.” He added: “I want my team to play entertaining football. I am not happy to scrap out a 0-0 or a 1-1 or whatever.
“I want to win, but I think you have a duty to the fans and the club to make you players better and I think the way to do that is to try and perform; to pass and to move and to try and create chances.
“We are scoring goals, looking threatening and looking defensively solid, competing very well and we are looking to try and continue and even improve on that.”