Ryan Lowe explains Preston North End's injury dilemma ahead of West Bromwich Albion clash

Lowe was without six first team players from the previous game when North End returned to action following the World Cup as they beat Blackburn Rovers. That number remained the same as they were defeated by Queens Park Rangers a week later.

On Boxing Day, PNE had three of their six stricken stars back – Alan Browne, Ali McCann and Emil Riis – all of whom played around a quarter of an hour off the bench as Huddersfield Town came from behind to win 2-1.

The trio would normally be considered starters for PNE but their brief cameos did not allow them to get back up to speed or impact the game as their side slipped to a frustrating defeat.

Although they were named on the bench, Lowe felt he could not get much more out of the three players, at risk of potentially injuring them again and being without them for even longer.

Andrew Hughes was fit for the game on Boxing Day but Lowe decided against including him in the squad and he could instead return for the upcoming game against West Bromwich Albion on Thursday, 8pm.

He said: “It's nice to have them all back but we rushed them back so I'm just cautious that we don't rush them too much. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, you think could you have freshened it up and played them but we've been limited on numbers.

"It's nice to have them back on the pitch. Hughesy was available today but we felt in terms of rushing him back too soon, he's ahead of schedule. It's one of them, you just have to deal with the injuries.

“They've come back too soon, me and Jacko [Matt Jackson, physio] have spoken about it. Emil trained once, Ali trained once and Browney trained two days, Hughesy trained one day.

"I'd kick myself if I put them in and they were out for weeks. Over the next few days we'll have to see how they are because we've certainly rushed them back because we felt we needed to.”