Every word Paul Heckingbottom said on Lewis Gibson injury concern, four changes vs Millwall and Deepdale pitch

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom calmed injury fears over Lewis Gibson following Tuesday’s clash with Millwall.

The Lilywhites drew 1-1 with Alex Neil’s side at Deepdale as both sides moved on to 42 points for the season. Mihailo Ivanovic opened the scoring shortly before the break but Emil Riis hit back for PNE soon after the restart.

It was Preston who pushed in the closing stages for a winner but the Lions limited further damage; Kaine Kesler-Hayden dragged a late opportunity wide after racing through. One moment of concern towards the end, though, was Lewis Gibson receiving treatment following a collision close to the dugouts.

“That was a clash of knees,” said Heckingbottom. “So that'll just be sore. It was like an impact, not a soft tissue thing or anything. He'll be fine.”

Gibson managed to complete the match but there was some worry on Heckingbottom’s part around Mads Frokjaer, who was introduced on 67 minutes. The Dane was one of four players to drop out of the starting lineup on the night.

Jayden Meghoma, Ryan Ledson and Milutin Osmajic also came out as Liam Lindsay, Ali McCann, Sam Greenwood and Emil Riis were brought into the side. North End’s boss addressed those changes in his post-match press conference, with

“Milly was ill,” said Heckingbottom. “I don't know if you can remember when he was ill all that week of Blackburn. He didn’t train the following week then we played him against Wycombe because we needed him. He ended up playing 120 minutes.

“Then he cramped up in the next game, a few days later at Norwich and then we had him again against Burnley. So we were protecting Milly; same with Mads. He was limping at the end there. I hope he's alright... but just protecting him a little bit yeah.

“Jayden the same. His exposure to games, Championship games and then in the last two, he's played a lot of minutes. But that allowed us to bring Liam in and get good size to deal with their set play threat. So yeah, a bit of both.”

“First night I’ve noticed it.”

One challenge which has become more apparent in recent home matches is the playing surface at Deepdale. North End defender Liam Lindsay touched on it in his post-match interview on Tuesday night and PNE’s boss admitted it did stand out to him, as he watched from the top of the Invincibles Pavilion.

“Yeah, listen, obviously it's new to me here with this pitch,” said Heckingbottom. “It's the first night I've noticed it. Both, you know, aesthetically when I first walked up there and had a look at it. And then also when we played... how it played. But it's the same for both teams.”