Preston North End's front line to get more options for AFC Fylde friendly

Sean Maguire is back in the mix for the Mill Farm clash after sitting out the opening two friendlies at Bamber Bridge and Cork City.

Numbers wise, North End manager Alex Neil has had no difficultly putting an attack in place for those games.

Neil fielded different XIs in both halves of the two games as he looked to get game time into the legs of most of the squad.

At Brig last week, Louis Moult led the attack in the first half, backed up by Graham Burke in the No.10 role with Tom Barkhuizen and Josh Harrop on the wings.

Moult found the net with the second goal in a 2-0 win, Tom Clarke having put PNE in front.

Jayden Stockley was the centre-forward in the second half, Alan Browne behind him, while Billy Bodin and Josh Ginnelly played wide.

Stockley started the Cork game and got Preston off the mark late in the first half.

Barkhuizen and Harrop provided the width although Harrop went off with a knock to his calf after 26 minutes.

There was another run for Burke, who spent the second half of last season loaned out to Gillingham, operating off Stockley.

The second-half front line at Cork was Moult up front, Bodin and Ginnelly wide, with Browne as the No.10. Ginnelly finished well for the second goal late on.

Maguire are now back in the frame, with him providing options both out wide and down the middle. The Irishman played a lot of his football on the right-wing in the second half of last season.

He is more effective as the main striker or could work well playing off the more physical presence of Moult or Stockley.

It is likely that Neil will give some of the squad longer on the pitch at Fylde, perhaps an hour with a mass of subs at that stage.

The 60/30 split can then be reversed in Tuesday’s visit to Chorley.

Like Preston, this will be AFC Fylde’s third pre-season friendly.

The FA Trophy winners and National League play-off finalists, lost 5-2 to Ayr United last week before beating Wigan 1-0 on Tuesday night.