‘We know’ - Preston North End’s plan for international trio as Millwall test awaits

Preston North End will assess their trio of international players ahead of Saturday’s clash with Millwall.

The Lilywhites face the Lions in the early kick-off at Deepdale, for the first match back after the international break. Alan Browne, Milutin Osmajic and Liam Millar all went away with their countries over the period and two of those are back at Euxton, ahead of this weekend’s game. Osmajic will return on Friday after substitute appearances for Montenegro, against Lebanon and Serbia respectively.

Browne played the majority of Ireland’s loss to Greece last Friday, but did not take part in the Gibraltar match on Monday. Meanwhile, Millar made a cameo appearance as Canada lost heavily in Japan last week. The travel involved for the wide man was a source of frustration for Lowe, but he’s looking forward and will factor in the trio’s recent workload when picking Saturday’s team.

“Browney wasn’t too well after the Ipswich game,” said Lowe, on Thursday. “He then went away and was thrusted into a game, then didn’t play the next game. So, we will have to see how he is. He’s back in the building today. (Milutin) is due back tomorrow morning. He didn’t play much but it’s the travelling, like with Liam Millar (in Japan) for 10 minutes, which is disappointing. We’ve got to monitor those lads, but that’s what we’ve got a squad for. We know there are no injury concerns with Milly anyway, which is a bonus. And Browney has come back in one piece - so has Liam Millar - which is the most important thing. We will see how they are for the weekend, yeah.”

On the timing of the break after three successive defeats, Lowe added: “I think it did come at a good time for us. The week was tough, as I stressed - one of those gruelling weeks. We did everything we possibly could to do everything right for the players and support the players. It wasn’t to be, but we sent the lads away and had a reset. There was a training group here, for the lads who didn’t play many games.

“And we had last Friday, Saturday, off Sunday, then Monday, Tuesday, so we’ve had a good four or five days leading into today and tomorrow - which will be seven sessions for us to put it right. And what a game to go into, back at Deepdale. It’s felt like a while since we’ve been there and hopefully the international break came at a good time, because I think we’ve had a bit of a reset and the lads have been different class.”