'Not good' - Ryan Lowe offers update on stricken Preston North End captain Alan Browne ahead of play-off run in

Browne limped off in the win over QPR on Good Friday and was seen on crutches after that game, struggling with an injury to his knee.

The Irishman missed the win yesterday, watching on as Tom Cannon saw his goal cancelled out by Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan before Brad Potts headed his side into the lead in the second minute of stoppage time.

“Not good, Browney,” Lowe said. “He's going to be a few weeks off. He's had a whack on his medial ligament so he's had a scan and he won't be with us, I don't know how long it'll be.

"It's day to day. He's in a knee brace at the moment as a precaution. We'll have to take each day and each step as it comes.

"He's certainly not going to be available for the next two weeks I wouldn't have thought and then what it looks like after that there's maybe a possibility.”

The win over the Royals saw North End draw level on points with the play-off places, sharing the same 62 points as Millwall and Blackburn Rovers in fifth and sixth – who they spend their next two weekends facing off against.

It’s a critical moment in the Lilywhites’ season as they look to perform the improbable and sneak into the top six at the last but they must do so without a host of key players.

North End have not had the best of luck with injuries at times this season but Lowe is not about to curse his luck.

He said: “We've got Ali McCann coming back, he'll be back on Thursday but he'll need time to build up. You get one and another one goes. It's part and parcel of football. It gives someone else an opportunity when that happens.

"We don't grovel over it. I'm gutted for Browney and he's gutted over it. Ched Evans, Emil Riis and Troy Parrott early doors, Greg Cunningham, and Ali - there's not much you can do about it. I'm not one who's going to cry over spilled milk, it is what it is.

"I see it as giving someone else an opportunity to go in and perform and that's certainly what Josh Onomah has done today the squad is going to be utilised over the next few weeks because games are coming thick and fast and then it's up to us to see if we can mount a charge to try and get in there.”