Preston joint caretaker manager David Unsworth spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One Boxing Day clash against Carlisle at Deepdale, Unsworth saying the players have been fantastic so far in his time in charge alongside Graham Alexander :
“The lads have been fantastic since MK Dons, I have to say that the quality they have shown and the pace of training at the moment is probably the best I have seen. Sometimes Graham (Alexander) and I have looked at each other and tried to put the reins on them a little bit, because you don’t want them peaking on the training ground. So, we have really enjoyed training, the lads had a day off after MK Dons and we have come back to training this week, we spoke about the game and we have put it to bed, that is in the past now and our full focus is on the Carlisle game.
“The lads have been brilliant and they deserve to be feeling the way they are feeling at the moment because they fully deserve it after the performance that they put in. We have just got to put the reins on that and channel it every single day, it is something that we have both tried to do and it is something that we will do in preparation for the game against Carlisle.
“It is a little bit different now when you are taking the whole training session and you are able to have an influence on picking the team, I think that is the biggest change for myself recently. That I can effect the picking of the starting eleven and how you want to go about taking them for training every day. That has been something that I have wanted to do for a while and now that Graham and I are doing that it is great to have an effect on the team that is actually going to come out at Deepdale.
“We have been busy this week, but there are no worries with being busy, it is why you are in football, you would rather be busy than not working at all. So, it has been great and the reaction of the lads to training and the preparation to the game has been absolutely top notch, Graham and I can’t speak highly enough of them, they have been so professional, the training ground has been buzzing and that win has really given them a massive boost, and we just want to carry that forward.
“I am sure the atmosphere is going to be electric on Boxing Day against Carlisle who are going to bring a few. I have spoken to people and I know a lot more people who are going to come to Deepdale on Boxing Day now because they want to get behind the team. They see that the team have done that well that they are just on the cusp of the play-offs now and there is a real excitement about the place, that I think that our season has really come alive and we have got a great opportunity of really doing something this year.
“The fans have been fantastic, the fans have been great all season, the away support has been amazing and to see the players celebrating with the fans at the end of the game against MK Dons was why you are in football. Graham and I spoke about it, those moments that you win games and you celebrate with fans is why you are in football, and I couldn’t have wanted to be at a better club, being my home town club. To be able to be standing on the line there with Graham as manager, and to win a game for Preston North End, being from Preston it is a dream come true and long may that continue.
“We are just concentrating on ourselves as a team, that is something Graham and I have spoken about in great detail, that all we want to do is concentrate on our players, and we have got some top, top players. When our players perform at the level that we know and expect they can, then we will give anybody a game. But, we will just concentrate on ourselves and we will go along and do our jobs as best we can."