‘Shining light’ - Layton Stewart making Preston North End progress after Liverpool exit

Preston North End striker Layton Stewart has stood out in training over the last fortnight.

That is the view of manager Ryan Lowe, who moved to bring Stewart in this summer from Liverpool on a permanent deal. The 21-year-old, who scored plenty of goals for the Reds’ youth teams, penned a three-year contract at Deepdale. PNE then put him on a fitness program, with Stewart viewed as a long-term recruit.

North End’s boss admitted that the centre-forward needed to be built up physically, in order to cope with Championship football. It’s now November and Stewart has made two appearances off the bench, having been named as a substitute nine times. Judging by Lowe’s latest comments, though, Stewart’s chance could be imminent.

“Layton has probably been the shining light over the past two weeks,” said Lowe. “He’s been absolutely brilliant. He is disappointed he’s not getting minutes, but I’m sure that will come. The last two weeks, I have seen a different side to him and again, credit to the fitness department and physios - they have got him in a place now, where he can train fully. And the intensity of our training - I would’ve thought - is a lot different to under-21s’ training.

“It’s more coachable probably at 21s; ours is more coachable for winning a game on Saturday and getting three points. He has been different class for the past two weeks. He’s been different class since he came into the building, but you can see he’s stronger, fitter and is maintaining the sessions. And he’s a fantastic finisher, so again, there are going to be opportunities for Layton along the way - of course.

“He just has to wait patiently until the time comes, but he’s been a different player for the past two-and-a-half/three weeks. So, credit to him and the fitness department for getting him stronger and fitter. If you looked at Layton now and spoke to him, he would probably tell you the same thing. He came into a football club that’s intense on a daily basis and I’m not saying where he was, wasn’t. But, he’s fighting for points and players are fighting to get into the team.

“He has bought into all that now and he knows. It was probably an eye opener for him when he first came, but we put him a program to get him bigger, stronger and fitter - which is the main thing, because a fit Layton Stewart is a fantastic goal scorer. But again, like the rest of the lads - Woody for argument’s sake - they’ve got to wait their turn until an opportunity comes. And hopefully they can take it.”