Preston North End boss delivers verdict on pre-season so far ahead of Fleetwood Town and Stockport County friendlies

Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe is pleased with the progress that his side have made over the course of pre-season so far. The Lilywhites finished 12th in the Championship last season and will be aiming for another push for the play-offs next term.

They were six points off the top six in the last campaign. The Lancashire side have been busy so far this summer and delved into the market to land Calvin Ramsay, Duane Holmes, Will Keane, Layton Stewart and Mads Frøkjær-Jensen.

The latter scored twice for Preston in their latest friendly clash against Scottish Premiership outfit Aberdeen at Deepdale on Saturday. They have two more matches against Fleetwood Town and Stockport County to get through before the start of the new season.

Following the victory over the Dons last time out, Lowe said: “I’ve seen some good stuff in pre-season behind closed-doors, the training and the mentality of the group has been brilliant. The enthusiasm, the application and the desire, everything has been spot on.

“The game against Ipswich wasn’t quite that, but again it’s pre-season and we can have a look at some stuff. We debriefed that game and got a few good and bad bits out of it. I thought the attitude and application was spot on.

“The performance was spot on for 35 minutes for large parts of the first half and we scored two good goals. Overall I’m pleased. Everyone came through unscathed as well, which is a bonus. And we got everyone on the pitch as well, which is a bonus for fitness.”

He added: “We’ll continue in pre-season as we have done and we’ll have some more objectives going into the Fleetwood game on what we can learn and what we can do better. We’ll continue to keep working hard in pre-season but, ultimately, our main goal is the 5^th August away at Bristol City.

“I’m not going to get too carried with our win. It’s a good performance from our perspective. I expect us to play like that. It’s taken a little bit longer in terms of where I would have liked us to be, but that’s what pre-season is like. The lads are a little bit cagey because they don’t want to get injured.

“We’ve lost a couple of players already, so we want to make sure we get them fully fit for the start of the season. But it pleases me when I see patterns of play like that and our attacking style. It’s pleasing for me as the manager. We’ll continue to work on the training ground and the next couple of games to make sure everything is geared up for Bristol City.”

Preston take on Fleetwood on Tuesday night and they finished 13th last term in League One under former Celtic midfielder Scott Brown. The Lilywhites then head to Edgeley Park on Saturday to face a Stockport County side who lost in the League Two play-off final on penalties to Carlisle United in May.