Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe's 23-day wait between his first and second games in charge of the Lilywhites

After overseeing a 2-1 win over Barnsley a few days after his appointment, Lowe by now should have had a trip to Millwall and a Boxing Day clash with Sheffield United in front a bumper crowd at Deepdale, under his belt.

This next couple of days would have been about getting the squad in shape for a visit to West Bromwich Albion.

As it is, the Barnsley game remains the one time he stood in the technical area.

Millwall, Sheffield United and now West Bromwich have fallen by the wayside.

Never has a ride down the M6 to Stoke been looked forward to with as much anticipation as Monday’s scheduled visit is.

Fingers crossed, North End will be out of their Christmas hibernation and back in action at the bet365 Stadium.

If Monday afternoon’s game goes ahead, there will have been a 23-day gap between fixtures for PNE.

You can only imagine the frustration for Lowe at that gap as he looks to make his mark. He was a breath of fresh air when sweeping into Deepdale on December 7 and got off to a winning start four days later.

Then it’s all been put on hold, Covid cases at Millwall seeing the December 18 trip to The Den postponed.

Positive tests then swept through the PNE camp to put paid to the Sheffield United and Albion matches.

The postponement of the Millwall game afforded Lowe some time on the training pitch with his squad without the work having to be match-focused.

But once Covid took hold closer to home last week, Euxton has been shut and Lowe has had to work remotely with the players.

You hope that PNE are getting towards the end of this wave of Covid and things can start returning to normal in the days ahead – normal for the time being will be daily tests, travelling to away games on two buses and limiting indoor contact at Euxton.

Rearranging the three postponed games shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Only three league games in the second-half of the season are scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday nights.

Replays in the third and fourth rounds of the FA Cup have also been scrapped, creating two blank midweeks if needed.

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