Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe calls for patience with younger players amid injury update

Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe has said he will be patient with his side’s younger players this season. The Lilywhites started 17-year-old defender Kian Best in their opening day clash away at Bristol City over the weekend.

They also named youngsters Filipe Rodriguez-Gentile, Kian Taylor, Lewis Leigh and Noah Mawene on the bench at Ashton Gate. Ryan Lowe’s side drew 1-1 with summer signing Will Keane scoring a late equaliser in front of the travelling fans.

Preston have a few injuries in their squad at the moment which has left them a little short of senior options. Clubs are allowed nine players as substitutes now, five of which came come in a game, which has paved for the way for some academy stars to be involved in the first-team picture.

Lowe doesn’t want to rush anybody in though or give too many minutes to someone of a young age just yet. He has said: “We have to be patient with them. You’ve got young Filipe who’s just turned 17. We’ve obviously got to be careful. We’ve had a couple of injuries Calvin’s [Ramsay] not right, [Ben] Whitey’s not quite back with us just yet.

“Robbie [Brady] and Whitey [Ben Whiteman] will probably be with us in the next two weeks and then you’ve got Ched [Evans] and Emil [Riis Jakobsen] so we’ve got a little bit missing in terms of numbers.

“We need to still add one or two hopefully, but that’s what we’ve got the youth system for to bring the young kids through and if they’re good enough they’re old enough. I must say that everyone agrees that they’ve been fantastic pre season.

“I’m not going to keep the bench empty and have no-one on it, I’d rather have the kids. They’ve deserved it and I thought they were fantastic, every single one of them.”

Preston will be satisfied with their draw away at Bristol City and have Sunderland up next in the league at home this weekend. In the meantime, they have a Carabao Cup clash against Salford City at Deepdale on Tuesday.