PNE ready to do the business

Jordan Hugill celebrates scoring Preston's late equaliser against Ipswich

Everton defender Tyias Browning is expected to join PNE for the rest of the season and will hopefully join in time to be in the squad for the trip to Cardiff City tomorrow.

Browning watched the 1-1 draw with Ipswich from the directors’ box on Saturday.

On the outgoing front, Eoin Doyle is set to be on the move, with Portsmouth, Bolton and Bradford eyeing him.

He is understood to favour going to Pompey to link up with Paul Cook who was his manager at Chesterfield and Sligo Rovers.

For the third game running Doyle did not make the matchday squad at the weekend.

It is looking likely that the Irish striker will be the only departure from the first-team squad ahead of tomorrow night’s deadline.

Stevie May is set to stay put despite strong interest from clubs in Scotland.

May was on the bench for the Ipswich game.

Incoming target Browning can play at right-back or in the centre of defence.

He played nine games for the Toffees before suffering a knee injury in late 2015.

Speaking after Saturday’s game, Preston boss Simon Grayson said: “We will be  signing a defender.

“Everything is agreed, the lad will sign and join up with us in time to travel to Cardiff with us.”

In terms of any business to be done in the other direction, Grayson said: “We will have to wait and see.

“I’m not going to leave myself short by letting out players that we don’t need to do.

“We will keep looking at the situation, we’ve had plenty of enquiries for players, plenty of bids coming in which shows we are doing things right.”

Two of the bids which PNE have knocked back came from Ipswich for Jordan Hugill.

The latest last week hit the £2m mark but North End were not moved by it.

It was Hugill who scored the 89th-minute equaliser against the Tractor Boys to earn his side a point.

Grayson said: “Jordan is proving his worth, he is a good player hence why we have turned down the bids.

“We want to keep working with him, keep improving him and his goals will give him some extra confidence.

“I was really pleased with his performance, that is why we want to keep all our best players.

“Jordan only joined back in training on Friday after his knee injury.

“It shows he is a willing lad to get back quickly.

“He hadn’t lost too much fitness given how many games he has played lately and he got through to the end.

“I was delighted to see him score.”