Paul Heckingbottom delivers double Preston North End injury update after draw with Swansea City

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom remained ‘proud’ of his players after Tuesday night’s 0-0 draw with Swansea City.

The Lilywhites had moments in the final third during the second half - Milutin Osmajic slotted wide, Brad Potts was denied and Ryan Ledson saw a goal bound shot blocked - but were ultimately unable to find a winner against the Swans.

Pre-match midfielder Stefan Thordarson dropped out of the squad after initially being named on the bench. Preston’s midfield - already missing Ben Whiteman, Duane Holmes and Mads Frokjaer - was hit further when Ali McCann had to be withdrawn through injury on 70 minutes.

“(Thordarson) felt his hamstring, so we ended up scanning it today and there's no damage, it's fine,” said Heckingbottom. “But he went to walk and was still wary of it, sprinting and reluctant, so we can't take the chance. We just pulled him out altogether.

“The plan was for him to be on the bench but my conversations with him today at the ground and then him warming up and still aware... it was pointless even having him on the bench. If he's not confident coming on for 30 minutes for Ryan Ledson, for example, when we need him, then it's pointless. Stefan will be fine for the weekend. Calf (issue for McCann) - I don't know (if it’s bad) yet, we'll see.”

“They’d take them on another day...”

On the stalemate, he added: “We've had too many games where we've been the best team this season and not got the three points. But the message to players after the game is how proud I was of them. We knew, watching Swansea's game, their approach, high energy, that's the big difference - they pass the ball less. They had 10 days and we were off the back of a big game at the weekend, so we had to make sure we were guarding against it being a flat performance from us.

“We were just really conscious as a group, and the players were as well, that we made sure we provided energy and really tried to force the game and make it difficult for them. To a man we did that and continued doing that with players playing out of position. We should have won the game; we created more than enough.

“I think if you ask our front players in particular if they had them chances again, they'd take them on the other day. They defended well but we had four or five moments, looking back, which were golden opportunities. We should have taken at least two or three of those ones. The plan was to play the exact same team and try and go again and then make changes on 60, but then we lose Steffy. Then we changed shape and it didn't suit us.

“We knew we'd be losing control again, but to try and create more chances and have three on the top line. We didn't play enough forward passes so we had to make that tactical change back to the shape. But we were much better in terms of against the ball. We knew we'd be giving them a free pass, which was to the full backs all the time because of how narrow we were. But we couldn't impose our shape where we'd hurt them on them. They had passes, but they didn't create anything.”

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