Ryan Lowe pinpoints Preston North End boost with West Brom the next Championship test

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe believes a free midweek will be important for his players as they gear up for the visit of West Bromwich Albion.

It’s the Baggies next up for PNE on Saturday afternoon, at Deepdale. North End have just gone through their first three-match week in the Championship as they took on Plymouth Argyle, Birmingham City and Rotherham United. Preston collected seven points and sit third in the table as a result.

North End will enjoy a brief breather before preparations ramp up for the challenge against Carlos Corberan’s men. Lowe’s squad could get thicker with the return of top scorer Will Keane, with competition for places - especially in midfield - already strong. Preston’s manager confirmed there were no injury setbacks suffered last time out at the New York Stadium, after some concern over the captain.

“Unscathed, yeah,” said Lowe. “We were worried about Browney at half-time after he went down, but it was a contact and his hamstring was tight. They will all be fine. They will have an extra recovery day, so they definitely will be fine... all good. The lads have got a clear week, which is a bonus for us and then we can get back to work.”

Lowe did not tinker with his team too much over trio of fixtures, making one change for the midweek visit of Birmingham and then two against the Millers. North End’s boss felt the bulk of his side deserved to keep their places and strength in depth - evidenced by introducing Ben Whiteman, Mads Frokjaer and Liam Millar on the hour mark - pleases him.

“I was only going to do the two and Ali (McCann) has been fantastic, but looked a bit more tired than Ryan (Ledson),” said Lowe. “He probably won’t agree with me! But, I brought Whitey on to calm us down a little bit and get on the ball. And yeah, very strong and then we changed to playing with two eights and two strikers. We went for it to try and get the three points and listen, we could’ve still been there now and not scored - which sometimes can happen. You want to make changes and freshen it up, but you’ve obviously got to let the lads who are performing keep doing what they’re doing.

“That’s what we wanted to do, so there were not going to be wholesale changes. We are getting people back now; we’ll have Keano back next week and the squad is getting stronger, with depth, which is what we want. It has been a fantastic start. We are not going to go and win every game - we’ve said that - but I always say that if you can’t win it, you don’t lose it. The lads were disappointed but I made sure they got their chins up and started smiling again because it was a good point on the road.”