What are Preston North End's attacking options in the absence of Sean Maguire?

Louis Moult is set to be the beneficiary of the misfortune Maguire suffered at Oldham, the extent of which is still to be confirmed.

Until there is a dip into the transfer market, Moult has the tag of being the one senior out-and-out striker at Deepdale.

Moult took Maguire’s place against Oldham in the first half and went on to open the scoring after half-time.

It was a timely moment to polish up his shooting boots and doing similar when North End kick off the season would be most welcome.

The transfer market was being scoured for another frontman before the Oldham game, attempts which will continue ahead of the teatime deadline on August 9.

After that are a further 22 days to do loan business and then that is it until January.

Putting the option of the transfer market aside – so too Moult – what else is available to Lilywhites manager Alex Neil in forward areas?

Callum Robinson and Tom Barkhuizen have both been used centrally before.

While not suggesting they are long-term options to play down the middle, the choice is there.

After Jordan Hugill was sold to West Ham, Robinson had a run of games up front.

When Maguire returned from last season’s hamstring problems, there were times when he and Robinson would swap positions.

Sunderland away springs to mind, when Maguire moved wide and Robinson went through the middle, with both getting on the scoresheet.

Barkhuizen up front was something we saw quite often early on in his time in a PNE shirt.

However, he tended to be part of a pair then and Neil tends to favour a single striker and a 4-2-3-1.

Assuming Moult gets the nod to start, hopefully that is responsibility on which he can thrive.

He did not have the easiest of starts after his move from Motherwell, arriving injured and with a responsibility as it turned out to fill the boots of a player sold for £9.5m.

Moult needs service – he is a player who scores a lot of his goals from close range.

His two in league action last season against Sheffield Wednesday and Burton both came from inside the six-yard box.

Likewise at Oldham, he got on the end of Graham Burke’s ball to score from close range.