Ali McCann absence in Preston North End’s win at Sheffield Wednesday explained

Preston North End midfielder Ali McCann missed Saturday’s 0-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday as a precuation.

The Northern Ireland international was withdrawn after 76 minutes in the previous encounter with Sunderland. He was then missing at Hillsborough, with manager Ryan Lowe bringing Duane Holmes in for his first Championship start in PNE colours. North End’s bench against the Owls was very young, with Noah Mawene, Kian Taylor, Lewis Leigh and Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile named as substitutes.

McCann joined Robbie Brady, Emil Riis, Ched Evans, Ben Whiteman, Layton Stewart and Calvin Ramsay on the sidelines. The number 13’s issue was not major, but enough for Lowe to opt against including him in the squad.

“He’s okay, he just took a whack on his hamstring,” said Lowe. “We weren’t going to risk him, because we don’t want to lose him for too long. He was actually out, running on the grass on Friday but there was no point in risking him. If we’d have risked him, it could’ve been worse.

“We just dropped Browney down one and pushed Duane in, because we felt Duane needed an opportunity anyway. He got 70 odd minutes in his tank, so yeah - again - you can’t do anything about it. With injuries and stuff like that, it is what it is and I can only deal with what I’ve got on the pitch. The lads who went out there performed and were fantastic.”

Lowe mentioned his decision to drag the skipper, Browne, back into a more central role alongside Ryan Ledson - with Holmes playing in advanced midfield next to Mads Frokjaer. PNE’s captain on the day was impressive and his start to the season continues to please Lowe.

“Yeah, fantastic,” said Lowe. “And that’s what we want. We want him to be leading by example and that’s certainly what he’s done, so long may that continue.”