Preston North End manager Alex Neil hopes to get some of his injured players back

Preston North End will be looking to get a couple of their injuries cleared up during the international break ahead of a key run of fixtures.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Ben Davies, Ben Pearson, Patrick Bauer and Andrew Hughes have all been on the casualty list of late to limit Alex Neil’s options further back on the pitch.

Davies and Pearson last featured against Cardiff City on October 18 – the first game back after the last international break.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Bauer and Hughes were both injured in the home defeat to Birmingham and missed the games against Reading and Rotherham.

Defender Ben DaviesDefender Ben Davies
Defender Ben Davies

In those games, the back four was made up of Darnell Fisher, Paul Huntington, Jordan Storey and Joe Rafferty.

They were excellent in the 3-0 win at Reading but did not fare as well against Rotherham as North End went down to a 2-1 defeat.

Davies and Bauer are thought to be the two closest to returns, having had ankle and knee injuries respectively.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Centre-half Davies was not too far away from being involved at Rotherham and the break should allow him to work on his fitness.

Pearson’s groin injury might take a little longer, so too the hamstring issue which Hughes suffered.

In Davies’ absence, Bauer and Storey teamed up to start with, then Bauer’s injury opened the door for Huntington to come in.

Storey won 20 headers in the Rotherham game and his display earned him a place in the Championhip team of the week togther with North End team-mate Ryan Ledson.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, Neil pointed out after the Rotherham game how all four defenders were right-footed. Hence a return for the left-footed Davies would give some balance.

Neil said: “When you play at Rotherham, you either turn the ball and make it stick at the top end to bypass the press, or you open up the pitch and play.

“The difficulty we had got was that we have four right-footers in our back line.

“We can’t really open the pitch out and play because we don’t have balance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“When the ball is worked out on our left side, we are kicking it with the wrong foot and nine times out of 10 you will concede possession.

“We wanted to avoid that so we had to try and make the ball stick at the top end which we didn’t really do.

“Probably the only time that happened was for a little spell leading up to the chance Daniel Johnson had.”

The international break will be used by Neil to both get some work done on the training ground and give the squad some rest.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

North End play 12 league games between their return to action on November 21, and January 2.

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 per month for the first two months. Try us today by clicking here