“Easing him in” - Paul Heckingbottom explains Preston North End loan man decision and limited Andrew Moran minutes

Paul Heckingbottom has clarified his substitution decisions during Preston North End’s 2-1 defeat at Watford on Tuesday.

Andrija Vukcevic was forced off after feeling tightness in his back, and Odel Offiah moved across to fill that gap as Stanley Mills came on to occupy the right wing-back role.

There was surprise that a more natural left wing-back such as Thierry Small - later brought on for Alfie Devine - or Chelsea loanee Caleb Wiley, wasn’t brought on instead.

Heckingbottom, who is ‘hoping’ Vukcevic ‘is alright’ to play in Saturday’s game against Lincoln City, clarified why Offiah was played there, when asked by the Lancashire Post in Thursday’s pre-match press conference.

“When Andy went off and [Othmane] Maamma had gone on there and he was [Watford’s] outlet, if you like, we know how good a one v one defender Odel is.

“When we changed shape, there was more emphasis on him stopping the player on that side and we went lopsided the other way.

“He’s comfortable doing that (playing on the left), no problem but he prefers [being] right centre back in the three, he can play right centre back in a two, he's played right back for us but I think certainly one of his outstanding qualities is his one v one defending.”

That quality was the main reason why Offiah was deployed there for the last 25 minutes of the game, but the club are also managing Wiley’s fitness.

The American defender suffered an adductor injury during his loan spell at Watford last season. Heckingbottom says PNE and Chelsea have been in discussions about how to manage his game time.

“Yeah, Caleb was left out just because of his football and coming back from his injury.

“We've had good conversations with Chelsea about easing him in slowly.

“He played two back-to-back games, albeit we brought him off when he flagged, I think you could see in the last game at the weekend when he got really tired.

“The adrenaline and excitement got him through the first game so yeah, we've looked after him this week which has been important for him because we want to keep him fit.

“[Small] is more of an attacking outlet on that side for us so put him on him in front of Odel.

“It was just a case of Caleb, we're easing him in, you know, like I say, he's not our player for one, but two, we want him to be fit for us for as long as possible this season and he's off the back of recovering from a significant injury.”

Andrew Moran has only featured in one league game this season for North End and that was a brief substitute appearance against Bristol City.

Moran, who did play a full 90 in the Carabao Cup against Everton. was signed from Brighton in February for a fee of £1m plus add-ons.

Heckingbottom has clarified his stance on the midfielder’s playing time.

“I think the one thing we're pushing Andy on is his goals and assists,” he told the Lancashire Post.

“I chat to Andy a lot about that and when he's not in the team, he's probably been unlucky because at certain times when you think he's coming on, a goal's changed something, we've changed our mind with the bench.

“But his application, his attitude, is first class and he's just got to be patient.

“He was when he came in and fought his way into the team and I think it's more of the same again.

“He's been one of the ones, because we were changing how we wanted to set up and play, he’s been sort of a victim of that when we were trying to recruit and then we wanted to go one way and then we landed Stan [Mills] and people right at the end after recruiting wing-backs.

“So yeah, it's certainly not down to a lack of quality and desire for him to play or anything like that.”