Preston North End’s Greg Cunningham’s a virtual hit with club’s youngsters

Cunningham, who rejoined the Lilywhites in the January transfer window after two-and-a-half years with Cardiff, took part in a question-and-answer session with players from PNE Women’s Junior U13s and their families.

It was organised by the PNE Community and Education Trust.

The players and families were taking part in the Trust’s Your Digital Family online quiz event.

Your Digital Family helps families to enjoy a more positive digital life with a fun and interactive quiz that looks to find how much parents and young people alike know about the digital world.

The quiz was made up of three rounds that inspired family conversations and debate about tech and what families can do together, both online and offline.

Cunningham kicked off the evening’s quiz by holding a question-and-answer session with the girls Under-13s team, which saw him asked about a range of interesting topics.

From being asked his opinion of Marmite to his matchday playlist, the defender selected the three best questions asked of him to determine three prize winners – who were awarded Amazon vouchers and PNE-themed surprises.

Cunningham, 30, also reserved some special words of advice to the girls’ team, as well as other grassroots teams who find themselves in the difficult situation of being unable to play matches or train with their team-mates, due to national restrictions.

He said: “Hard work is a minimum and it does get overlooked sometimes.

“There are different standards and different levels of players but as long as a player gives me 100 per cent, I would have no issues.”

Cunningham, who signed a contract until the end of the season, admitted to feeling privileged to be able to continue playing and training through the pandemic.

The Irishman told the Under-13s team: “I’m still very lucky to be able to train and to play games.

“During these tough times, we all need to understand how tough it is for everyone – for yourselves and your members as well. Just stay positive.

“We’re all going through a tough time and we just need to make sure that we come out of it in a good place.”