PNE face Aston Villa after the international break in the FA Cup last eight

Preston North End have suffered another blow for their FA Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa.

The Lilywhites’ first game back after the break is their last eight tie at Deepdale, on Sunday afternoon. PNE are in the quarters of the competition for the first time in 59 years, but Paul Heckingbottom’s squad for the match has now been stretched even further.

In addition to Ryan Porteous being cup tied, Ryan Ledson suspended and Kaine Kesler-Hayden not being eligible to face his parent club, Leeds United loan man Sam Greenwood is now suspended. He picked up two yellow cards in the closing stages of Saturday’s win over Portsmouth.

Brad Potts, Jack Whatmough and Ali McCann are also out injured at the moment but there is hope that Jordan Storey - who returned to the match day squad this weekend - will be match ready by the time the tie comes around.

“Yeah, and now Sam,” said Heckingbottom, on his absences. “So we'll have bodies missing, we know that. But we'll see how (Storey) he does. He was on the bench today. I would have been confident last ten minutes if we'd have needed it.

“But no, he's trained great, he's only had two days. Jordan's all in when he trains, competitive, and he's got good confidence in his ankle, which is great. It's a case of us getting him to a point so he can be involved in the next game, and I'll be confident giving him more than ten minutes.”

“We’re all excited about it.”

On the next game and occasion, Heckingbottom added: “Yeah, good, good. We're all excited about it. I’ve just been chatting to some fans in there, all talking about it, and rightly so. It's a break from the league, so we will be looking forward to it, definitely. But now it's to put ourselves in the best place for that game, and then it's about doing the right things this next week before we start the preparation.”

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