Things can change quickly in the transfer market and Preston North End have come to life after Huddersfield win

Following 0-0 draws in their opening Championship fixtures, PNE let their hair down in midweek with a thumping 4-1 win over Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup first round.

It was one of those ties which could have gone either way – the Terriers are of course in the same division as PNE, so it provided a test for Ryan Lowe’s side.

He was always going to make changes to the starting eleven so those that came in had a real chance impress against last season’s play-off finalists.

The home side did make changes themselves too but had if it been a boxing match, it would have been stopped inside the first few rounds.

North End were so quick out of the blocks and were irrepressible, those that came into the side, six in total, slotted in seamlessly – even with a switch in formation.

It had been coming though, it has to be said. On another day North End would beat opponents Wigan Athletic on the opening day and so too Hull City at Deepdale last weekend.

The performances have not been poor, it just hadn’t quite clicked into gear in front of goals.

However, Tuesday was as good as we’ve seen PNE play under Lowe, the first half in particular.

Alvaro Fernandez and Ali McCann in particular stood out, the former setting up the latter’s two goals.

The fact that those two have barely had a kick so far says a lot about the depth in the squad.

Whilst individually, this squad may not be as good as last season’s at the moment – the individual quality of Cameron Archer, Daniel Iversen and Sepp van den Berg tough to replace – the collective strength has improved.

The left side of the pitch has gone from a perennial problem to one of the strongest areas, with Fernandez and Robbie Brady fighting it out.

Ben Woodburn has been a good addition and has looked very tidy on the ball when coming on.

There is a genuine backup goalkeeper now and Troy Parrott is hopefully one of two to be brought in this summer in the forward area.

Lowe has more to choose from this time around and the way that the supporting cast stepped in to dismantle Huddersfield says enough about how ready to go they are.

The team picked itself a lot last season, this season that hopefully will not be the case.

This weekend is a good opportunity for North End to show how far they have come since March. It is not a massive amount of time but there has been a lot of work done since then.

It is looking more and more like a Ryan Lowe squad.

The style has been in place for some time now, the players took to that quite quickly and it helped that he had a month early on in his reign to get his message across. Since that defeat at Kenilworth Road last season when North End lost miserably 4-0, there has been an overhaul of the playing squad, staff changes, a failed takeover, a memorable pre-season tour and 12,000 season tickets sold.

If that game is the lowest point of Lowe’s time in charge, the loss to Blackburn Rovers probably a close second, then it will be interesting to see where the two sides stack up now.

They will have a good following, as usual, with around 800 tickets sold so far – amidst a train strike – and no matter what anyone says, it is about putting that defeat right.

Players may say that it is consigned to history, but the fans do remember and the players are only human, defeats like that still sting. They’re professionals and they will want to show their best to the side that turned them over.

It felt like the proper Preston were back on Tuesday, after misfiring in their opening two games.

Although it was against a changed Huddersfield side, if those performances can persist there is no reason to think PNE won’t be looking at the top half this season.

Of course, there is still more to be done in the market, but right now you can work only with what you’ve got.

It may not be the most ideal situation, but there are still around three weeks left of the transfer window.

In the season so far changing over the course of 90 minutes in midweek, the summer transfer window can change in a similar amount of time.

It takes just one transfer to make many dominoes fall and that could have a knock-on effect right the way down the pyramid.

The squad is not currently in a bad position, a ban and an injury is leaving the Lilywhites short up front and though there are stop gaps, a right wing-back is also needed. But it is not the case that it is catastrophic right now that they have not yet arrived.

I personally don’t mind a little bit of patience to see the lay of the land. You never know who could pop up last minute, you need only think of how successful the last minute loan of Aiden McGeady was.

Working on the last minute is not a good thing but the reward linked with that risk does entice me a little – whether it does the hierarchy at Deepdale, time will tell.

North End have their targets, they know who they want, but the longer it goes on the more options there are to them.

Free agents will be getting itchy feet in unemployment, Premier League sides are finalising their squads allowing more of their youngsters out on loan.

There is enough in place to work with for now, with hopefully more to come, and if PNE have been sparked into life, it could be a quite enjoyable end to the summer.