Preston North End injury news on four players as Ryan Lowe confirms friendly against Premier League team
PNE were beaten by Southport on Tuesday night
Preston North End were without four senior players in Tuesday night’s friendly at Southport, for varying reasons.
The Lilywhites lost 2-1 at the Big Help Stadium, with Jim Bentley’s side taking the lead in the first half and netting the winner 17 minutes from time. Either side of those goals, Mads Frokjaer equalised. Post-match, manager Ryan Lowe provided an update on Ali McCann, Dai Cornell, Milutin Osmajic and Kian Best - who were all absent.
“Dai might be back tomorrow,” said Lowe. “Ali is just a precaution, for the next couple of weeks. He had a bit of a setback from his last injury. Milly tweaked a muscle in his back yesterday and it was a little bit tight, so we weren’t going to risk him. Besty has had a little bit of a problem with his ankle. We’ve scanned it. He has been in unbelievable condition this pre-season, to be fair to him. While we were over in Spain, maybe it was the change of grass, but his foot was sore.
“There was a bit of tendonitis in the back of his Achilles. He has done a bit of work today and will continue that. Hopefully we’ll get him back at some point next week, but it’s more a precaution. There is no major damage. If we can get him back and playing some games, it’s a must for him really. He’s done excellently well in pre-season and we don’t want him to lose that fitness. We’ve kept him going on the bikes and hopefully we can get him more minutes next week.”
On the pre-season work so far, Lowe added: “We’re only two-and-a-bit weeks in now. We have worked the lads hard. They have done more high-intensity running, more distance running and more sprints than they did last pre-season. That is a bonus for us. We’ve got loads more games to play; the most important thing, I think, is the first game of the season. We have got a tough encounter, against a top team in Sheffield United. We’ve just got to get ourselves to that Friday, fully fit. We don’t like losing, of course - the goals are avoidable.
“It’s something for us to learn from and look at. We are disappointed with that, but there was some good stuff. We are working on some principles, in possession, and that’s what I am seeing. If we can continue to do that, it will be good. If we can find two or three extra percent, through the thirds from the back to middle to front, we’ll obviously be better. We are going to be working on four pillars this season, which we feel we can be better at.
“That will obviously stay in-house, but you can always get fitter and stronger can’t you? You only have to see Mads (Frokjaer) tonight, how well he’s adapted after his first season - really getting after people, running around, counter pressing and getting the ball back. So yeah, there are certain areas we need to work on, but to be fair to the group they’ve been excellent for the last two weeks. The fitness levels and the way they’ve come back, credit to them and the coaches.
“But there’s always a precaution side of pre-season games as well. Nobody really wants to get hurt and they’re pulling out of tackles, so I’m just happy that they’ve got through another 60-30 minutes. We’ll continue that - the lads who finished the game will start against Bamber Bridge and the lads who started the game will play 30 minutes. Then, we go into a tough one on Friday against Premier League opposition.”