PNE in numbers: Preston stay was short and certainly not sweet for Connor Wickham

Connor Wickham’s stay with Preston North End amounted to just 32 minutes of first-team action.
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The striker left PNE this week when his four-month contract ran out.

He’d spent the best part of a month on trial earning that deal and in the end his stay was to be a painful one.

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Wickham pulled on the North End shirt twice, coming off the bench in the Championship clash with West Bromwich Albion.

Connor WickhamConnor Wickham
Connor Wickham

He played 25 minutes that afternoon and three days later started the Carabao Cup tie with Cheltenham Town.

Just seven minutes in he had to be subbed after being involved in a rather innocuous collision.

Unfortunately that caused a hamstring muscle to detach from the tendon, the same sort of injury which Callum Robinson suffered when playing for PNE in 2018.

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Had North End been able to get Wickham into peak shape rather than losing him so early, he could have been an astute signing.

There was certainly a regret on Ryan Lowe’s part that his only opportunity to work with Wickham was over the last couple of weeks at Euxton.

Lowe said: “When I first came in, Connor walked past me and I looked up at him thinking ‘he’s a real unit’. In my mind I was thinking if we could get him fit and firing, he could be a huge threat in the Championship.

“He’s had his issues over the years with his fitness and that’s gone against him.

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“The good thing is that Connor was fit when he left us. He was good as gold here, we shook hands and I’m sure he will get himself a new club.”

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