False start for Preston North End goalkeeper Mathew Hudson at Bamber Bridge

Hudson lasted just 14 minutes of his debut against Whitby Town, with him shown a red card for handling outside the box.

It leaves the 23-year-old facing a one-match suspension, that ruling him out of Brig’s clash with Buxton on Saturday.

North End sanctioned Hudson’s move to Brig on a month’s loan last Friday as they looked to get him a run of senior football.

He had a brief spell at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium in 2020 and PNE do have a good relationship with the NPL Northern Premier League outfit.

Academy graduate Hudson still has only one first-team appearance for the Lilywhites under his belt, that as a teenager back in December 2015.

He came of the bench in a Championship game at Leeds when loan keeper Jordan Pickford was sent-off.

Hudson spent part of the 2018/19 season on loan at Bury but only made four appearances in the Football League Trophy.

In the main at PNE he’s been the third choice keeper, however earlier this season he became the main back-up to Daniel Iversen while Declan Rudd was injured and Connor Ripley loaned out to Salford City.

Since January, Ripley has been Ryan Lowe’s choice as No.2 keeper to Iversen.

Hudson and Ripley are both out of contract in the summer, Hudson needing to play games over the next month to either earn himself a new deal or attract the attention of other clubs.

Iversen is on loan from Leicester City until the end of the season and Rudd remains sidelined after three bouts of surgery on a knee injury he first suffered in January last year.

So there potentially be much work to do in the goalkeeping department in the summer.

In Tuesday’s reserve clash with Fleetwood, youth-team keeper James Pradic was between the posts with first-year pro Oliver Lombard on the bench.

Pradic has impressed this season having been taken on as a scholar last summer – PNE having spotted the former Charlton Athletic keeper at EFL trials for released players last year.