Incoming North End boss Alan Irvine may not have much Championship experience to speak of as a coach, but he soon will as the intensity of the winter fixture list intenses over the next fortnight. Tuesday's trip to Crystal Palace is the second of five PNE fixtures in the space of a fortnight, meaning there's not much time for the new gaffer to work his magic on the squad.

Nonetheless, he was in no mood for excuses, and was keenly anticipating the return to a club he served during his playing days when he spoke to PNE.com...

Alan, having had time to reflect on Saturday's performance, how do you think that one went overall?

"I thought that Charlton were the better team for most of the periods in the first half and I felt that we were the better team for decent periods of the second half. Obviously we got into a number of promising positions but we weren't able to find the final cross, finish or movement at the right moment. The second goal was neither here nor there. Obviously we don't want to lose goals but at that time Sean St Ledger was standing injured up front and if we'd had a second centre half back there we wouldn't have conceded that goal."

What were the main positives that you took from the game?

"The promising thing is that we've worked on crossing in three of the four days I've been with the players on the training ground and it's promising that we managed to put in 37 crosses on Saturday - that was great. Now the next thing is to make sure we've got men in the right places and get the right kind of finish at the end of it."

The games are coming thick and fast to start your reign - presumably it should be an interesting trip to Selhurst Park on Tuesday?

"Yes it is. It's one of my old clubs so I'm looking forward to going there and it's another challenge. They've had a good result at the weekend so it's going to make it that little bit harder for us."

Would you have rather had a game a bit closer to home at this stage rather than a lengthy midweek jaunt?

"Ideally we'd have preferred a shorter midweek away trip but you just have to take what you get. We don't have any control over the fixtures as they come so you just take what you've got, move on, and don't complain about it."

Presumably it's a help to have another game so soon after Saturday so you can try and rectify the disappointment of that result?

"In many circumstances that's true but my problem is not having enough time on the training ground with the players at the moment. Obviously there are certain things that I believe we need to be doing and we don't have a lot of time to do that. The benefit of four games in the first two weeks is that I get a crash course in the Championship and a crash course in terms of looking at our own players. The downside, really, is that fact of not being able to spend the time on the training ground putting things right."

When you have been training, much of it has been at Deepdale through necessity over the last few days. Id that something that's a help or hindrance?

"I'd much rather be on the training ground but unfortunately it's badly flooded at this moment in time due to the amount of rain we've had recently, and that's a problem because the last thing I want to do is mess up the terrific surface we've got here at Deepdale. I'd rather not be training on the pitch, but I've got to train somewhere!"

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