PNE head into Tuesday night's clash at Stoke City following a 1-1 draw with Derby County

Preston North End will make a late call on defender Liam Lindsay for Tuesday night’s trip, to his former club Stoke City.

The Lilywhites are in midweek action at the bet365 Stadium, following last weekend’s share of the spoils against Derby County. A point was also picked up by the Potters in their previous encounter, with ex-PNE loan star Tom Cannon on the score sheet, in a one-all draw at Queens Park Rangers.

Now, North End are on the road as they go away to face Narcís Pelach’s team. PNE centre-back Lindsay suffered a groin issue almost three weeks ago and has missed the last two games - while Robbie Brady has been absent since late October, with ankle ligament damage.

“Robbie, Liam, both are out running,” said Heckinbottom. “Liam, we are hoping - we’ll see how he has reacted today, but yeah, all good. Robbie, it is the first time I have really seen him open up when running today. So, hopefully we’ll have him back involved with us next week.”

Two players who did feature last time out, against the Rams, were Ben Whiteman and Mads Frokjaer. The PNE captain started the game, but was forced off late on with a knee issue. Frokjaer, meanwhile, was not handed a start due to concerns over his hamstring.

On the pair, Heckingbottom said: “(Whiteman) opened up his knee, if you saw the tackle in front of the benches. But no, he’s trained and is fine. Just after (Portsmouth), he (Frokjaer) felt it slightly. Listen, I think if you watch how Mads has been playing of late - I have been really pleased with him.

“It has been a frustration that we haven’t had the rewards, when certain players have been performing really well. The game before, against Sunderland, I thought he was outstanding - with and without the ball. One of the reasons we put him on the bench was just for that.

“We are always aware when players have made big jumps, because I think he has made big strides physically and been performing to a level - probably over a period of games - which has been his momst consistent. So yeah, that was in our mind at Portsmouth and we were just aware of something in those training days before the break. He missed the full week up then and only trained on the Friday.”