Preston North End striker Sean Maguire back running as he steps up recovery from hamstring injury

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The Preston striker has not featured this season after limping out of the final pre-season friendly with Oldham.

A subsequent scan revealed a more serious tendon problem that is expected to rule him out until October time.

He has taken the next steps in his rehab at PNE's Springfield training base this week with boss Alex Neil reporting the Republic of Ireland international is making good progress.

"Sean is in good nick just now," Neil said.

"He started running earlier this week which is a good sign.

"But he's still got a significant amount of time to go before he's back playing."

Elsewhere on the injury front captain Tom Clarke could come back into contention when Bolton visit Deepdale on Saturday after missing the last two games with a groin problem.

"I think Tom should be okay," said Neil.

"He missed the last few days but hopefully he will join in training today and we'll see how he goes from there."

Fears about Alan Browne's hamstring injury were quickly put to bed when he swiftly returned to action at Leeds on Tuesday night having missed the defeat to Derby last time out in the Championship on Saturday

It made a nice change for Neil given his luck with injuries during his time as Lilywhites boss.

"Since I've been here when we've sent players for scans it hasn't reported very good news," said Neil.

"Normally we're looking for a niggle and we've picked up five or six month injuries!

"The pleasing news for Alan is we got him scanned on Monday and it came back fine.

"There's no issues."