Preston North End squad depth pleasing Ryan Lowe as admission made over ‘on fire’ midfielder

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe is pleased with the options at his disposal currently, even with a handful of first team players out injured.

Calvin Ramsay, Emil Riis, Andrew Hughes, Jack Whatmough and Ali McCann were all sidelined for Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw with Southampton, at Deepdale. But, North End’s boss was able to bring Milutin Osmajic, Ched Evans and Ryan Ledson off the bench - with the former providing an assist and goal in the space of three minutes.

Lowe made a couple of changes for the Saints clash and altered his shape on the night too, which brought some success. Preston were denied victory in the 96th minute of the match and now head to Hull City, looking to bring their winless run of six games to an end. It’ll be a tough test against the Tigers, but North End’s manager is feeling good about the competition he has within camp.

“The selection is hard when all the lads are performing to the levels expected,” said Lowe. “But, they understand now that we’ve got a squad now which we can rotate. We made two changes from the weekend with Browney and Liam Millar. We knew that’d give us a bit of impetus going forward, along with the shape change. But again, anyone who comes on to the pitch knows they’ve got to perform - and they are, every day in training. The squad is thicker and better and when we get more back, it’ll be even better again.

“But, the adaptation from the boys, to take on instructions, is massively pleasing for me and the PNE fans should be proud of those players out there, performing to the levels. We will have more performances like that and it’s what the Championship brings (drama). I don’t get down or frustrated about it anymore, because as long as my team give me everything then we’ll be well worthy of points. Me and the staff, collectively, make the decisions and we speak to the players about how they’re feeling.

“We do have to make those decisions. Teams in the Championship have squads and that is what they are for. Anyone who plays, starts or comes on to the pitch, they are taking instructions on and performing. It is tough when people get left out. I was bringing Ben Woodburn on at half-time (against Southampton) to get into the ten position, but something just told me to get an extra striker on. Woody has been absolutely on fire in training and is just waiting for that opportunity. In terms of the squad, the depth is a lot better than it has been.”