Preston North End star back in the fold for Cardiff City as Paul Heckingbottom gets squad boost

Preston North End will have Robbie Brady back with the squad for Wednesday night’s trip to Cardiff City.

The Lilywhites head to south Wales on the back of four consecutive draws. PNE were left frustrated, once again, to not take all three points in their previous outing at Sheffield Wednesday. North End have five games left of the calendar year, to try and pick up more wins than so far managed.

While that has been a gripe for boss Paul Heckingbottom, one positive at the moment is that his squad is in good shape. Liam Lindsay and Mads Frokjaer were back in the match day squad at Hillsborough, and Brady - who has been out since late October - now looks set to add to that.

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“Same available and Robbie has added to that now as well,” said Heckingbottom, in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “So yeah, we are taking a big squad down there. Especially when you are playing Wednesday night and early Saturday, it is good. And, the first time while I have been here, where I’ve felt we’ve got that whole squad available, virtually.”

Brady was making a positive contribution to the team, prior to his injury blow at Plymouth Argyle - where the Irishman suffered ankle ligament damage. He has been sidelined for almost two months and the North End chief has felt the absence of an experienced campaigner. Having him back, both as a player and character, will be a big boost to him.

“It has been huge, yeah,” said Heckingbottom, on Brady’s efforts out on the left. “If you look at the four games he played, whether it was Pottsy or Kaine on the right and Robbie on the left, that natural balance is when our results have coincided with our performance.

“It does and you just think of that natural pass, for the penalty against Norwich. That is something we are really big on and at the minute, we haven’t got that natural deliverer in that area of the pitch. Set-plays, we’ve got right and left footers so there are lots of little things that balance gives you - which is really underestimated.”