PNE make the trip down to Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom remained coy over whether Milutin Osmajic will feature at Portsmouth.

The Lilywhites’ striker - who has scored in all three league games this season - was forced off against Wrexham on Tuesday night. Just 10 minutes after entering as a substitute in the second half, the Montenegrin had to be withdraw.

Osmajic was holding his hip/back area but Heckingbottom reported it as a rib issue for the number 28, when speaking post-match. Time will tell whether he is involved at Fratton Park but midfielder Mads Frokjaer is back in contention.

On his team news for Saturday, Heckingbottom said: “Yeah, we'll see. Hopefully, they'll give him as long as he can. He's tweaked his ribs. I think you all saw him go down and yeah, with that game, that's why we took him off straight away. There’s no break, so we’ll see... I’m not going to tell John (Mousinho) if he’s playing or not.

“As for Lewis (Dobbin) - I think I got asked about Lewis afterwards - always the plan to bring him off (at half-time), no injury there. Gibbo has trained today so he should be fine. We’ve done very little today but I'm expecting Gibbo to be okay. We'll know tomorrow when we train properly; that's where we are.

“Mads has trained today. It'll be good to have Mads back. Minutes-wise, he's going to be limited but having him back around the place, his energy, his game understanding, his flexibility within the team - where we could potentially play him - it's good to have him back, yeah.”

Robbie Brady, Jordan Thompson, Brad Potts and Will Keane all remaine sidelined for North End. Summer signing Daniel Jebbison made his full debut in midweek, along with Dobbin, and could be in line for his first Championship start if Osmajic is not fit. Liam Lindsay had his head stitched up against Wrexham and is fit and available.

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