The Leeds United loan man was sent off against Blackburn Rovers

Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom has a plan to ensure Sam Greenwood will be ready to go again, once his suspension is over.

The Leeds United loanee will miss the next three games, against Millwall, Watford and Burnley. He was shown a straight red card, 40 minutes into last Sunday’s Lancashire derby against Blackburn Rovers. Greenwood’s sliding challenge on Lewis Baker saw PNE reduced to ten men.

The 22-year-old had started three league games in a row, under Heckingbottom. He got himself into the team after scoring twice against Harrogate Town and the PNE boss was impressed by the midfielder’s efforts - both in training and matches. But, he’s now been dealt a setback and will spend the next week on the sidelines.

“Yeah, he is gutted," said Heckingbottom. "If I'm honest, he's looked a little bit lost these last couple of days. He is not preparing for a game. Since we've come in he's played a lot of football and been involved in a lot of our games.

“He’s produced big, physical outputs, we are going to just look after him a little bit this weekend. Then, next week, we are preparing for another two big games. There isn’t going to be a lot of training, so he will have his own training programme. Then, he'll fall back in line with us again during the international break, so that's what it looks like for him."

Greenwood’s career is still in its infancy and the sending off will be a learning curve. Heckingbottom, after Rovers, said he would have a conversation with the loanee about that aggressive side to his game. North End’s boss knows he is working with a young player who, with more experience under his belt, will make better decisions in those moments. He hasn’t had to break down the technique of the tackle, as such.

"No, exactly," said Heckingbottom. "A push in the back there - forget the tackle - is the wrong thing to do. A player is facing his own dugout, we've applied really good pressure, he's got nowhere to go and fouling him is his only way out.

“So, giving the foul away is the wrong thing. I speak to Sam a lot. Me growing up, I think there is the north east, south Yorkshire, Merseyside - you tend to want to come out on top in a physical way, rather than any other way. Sam's been brought up that way, where he likes to compete physically.

“He wants to win the ball; sometimes that isn't the correct decision. But yeah, I don't want to take that enthusiasm and aggression out of his game. He is still only young and in the next couple of years, he'll start to realise where and when to use it - and how best to use it.”