Alan Browne’s pride at Preston North End goal tally
The midfielder netted his 12th goal in the 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.
That ended a barren run by his standards, Browne last having hit the target in the 2-1 win at Bolton on February 9.
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Hide AdIt was in the reverse fixture with Wanderers at Deepdale in September that he scored the volley which fans voted as the best of the season.
Browne said: “The pleasing thing for me on Saturday was scoring again.
“That is 12 for the season, all in the league, compared to nine in total last year – seven were in the Championship.
“Scoring goals is a part of my game which I work really hard on and it been quite a while since I last got one.
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Hide Ad“Going into the game it was in the back of my mind that I hadn’t scored for a bit. To be fair, I didn’t think I had deserved to because my performances had dropped off over the last few weeks.
“So it was nice to see that one go on, even though I hurt my ankle again doing so!
“It was worth a bit of pain, though, and I would do it again.”
Browne was honoured to win the goal of the season award once more.
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This time he was closer in, chesting the ball down on the edge of the ‘D’, turning and hooking in a left-foot volley.
The Irishman had strong competition, in particular Brandon Barker’s solo effort at Leeds in the League Cup.
Said Browne: “It is good to pick up any award and this is a special one for me.
“I got it last year as well so that is fantastic.
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Hide Ad“There were some superb goals to pick from, a lot of great individual goals.
“Probably the exception was the one Daniel Johnson scored at Blackburn which was such a great team goal.
“They are the ones you work on and when they come off you think, ‘We deserved that because we worked hard’.
“So for my goal to win makes me very proud and I’d like to say thank you to our fans for voting.”
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Hide AdWhile PNE will not finish as high as they did last season, Browne thinks there have been improvements in a lot of aspects of their play.
That gives the 24-year-old plenty of optimism ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
Browne said: “There has been an improvement, even if the table doesn’t say so.
“Hopefully we can give it a right go next time, hopefully keep everyone at the club and bring in a few to strengthen us.
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Hide Ad“We have a really good squad here who have a great understanding of what the manager wants from us.
“The gaffer signing his new deal was good lift for everyone – we might have had to start from scratch if he had gone.
“He has shown his faith in us and how much he believes in the lads.
“Since he came to the club you can see how much he breeds confidence through the team.”