Sean Maguire eager for his first action of pre-season with Preston North End

Maguire has sat out PNE’s first two friendlies against Bamber Bridge and Cork City after a late return to training after Republic of Ireland duty over the summer.

Callum Robinson is in the same boat and like Maguire, should feature in Saturday’s visit to Mill Farm.

Although Maguire was only a spectator against his former club Cork on Monday, he was still a man in demand from the City fans and Irish media.

Maguire said: “Myself and Callum were away with Ireland for three weeks.

“We only came back last week so these first two games came a bit too early.

“The plan is to play a part in the Fylde game on Saturday –the gaffer is looking for us to get involved there.”

Maguire is hoping to have better luck with injuries this time than he had in his first two seasons at Preston.

He had hamstring surgery in his first campaign and then was twice ruled out with hamstring injuries last season.

Maguire said: “My two seasons at Preston have been different to each other.

“In the first one I missed 
20-odd games in the middle but I came back to finish strongly and got 10 goals.

“Last season I played about the same amount of games but didn’t play particularly well, especially towards the end.

“My performances were well below par then.

“The first thing for me to aim for is to stay fit for the full season, be available for as many games as possible.

“This is a really big year, not just individually but as a team as well, we want to push for promotion.

“In terms of my fitness, it is about managing myself more, looking after the soft tissue outside of training.

“It might mean coming in half-an-hour earlier than the rest of the boys so that I can get my hamstrings, glutes and hips active.”