Preston North End man ready for Sheffield Wednesday battle against old Portsmouth team mate
PNE host Danny Rohl's side on December 29 at Deepdale
Preston North End defender Jack Whatmough is ready for the upcoming battle with a Sheffield Wednesday forward he knows plenty about.
The Lilywhites beat Hull City on Boxing Day and now attention turns to facing the Owls, just three days later. It’s only three weeks since PNE drew 1-1 at Hillsborough - a game that left North End frustrated given their strong performance on the day.
But, Preston failed to build on Emil Riis’ opening goal and were pegged back towards the latter stages of the second half in Sheffield. The goal scorer for Danny Rohl’s side was Wednesday’s big, experienced centre-forward Michael Smith. Heckingbottom expects him to return to the side on Sunday afternoon and PNE’s number five will be up for the fight.
“Yeah, I played with Smith a few years back at Portsmouth so I know exactly what he is capable of,” said Whatmough. “He is a great striker, a handful and it’s another one where you have got to be on your game. I look forward to that challenge.”
With fellow defender Liam Lindsay set to serve the second of his two-match suspension, another start looks in the offing for Whatmough - who has been given the nod in eight of the last nine games. The 28-year-old expects he and his team mates to dig deep as they go in search of back-to-back victories.
“(I’m expecting) a tough game,” said Whatmough. “It’s an early kick-off and there is not a lot of time to recover, but you have got to do everything you can to try and get as right as you can. We will be in early (after Hull) and the recovery - and work on Sheffield Wednesday - starts then.
“We didn’t play them too long ago so it will be fresh in the mind. We’ll be ready to attack that game and give everything we’ve got again. We look game-by-game and just try go for three points as best as we can. The group of players in there will give 100 per cent no matter what.”