Wednesday 1 August 2018 16:35, UK
Preston have suffered two serious injury blows days before the start of the Sky Bet Championship season with Billy Bodin and Sean Maguire facing extended spells on the sidelines.
Maguire will miss a couple of months with a hamstring injury but the injury to Bodin could keep the Wales international out for a large portion of the season.
Bodin suffered a knee ligament injury in training earlier this week and boss Alex Neil said the former Torquay and Bristol Rovers forward could miss at least six months.
Neil said: "His foot got stuck in the ground and as he turned, he has damaged his ACL [anterior cruciate ligament]. It's devastating for Billy.
"Because of Sean's history, we got him scanned and it's come back a lot worse than what we thought. He will be missing for the best part of a couple of months.
"They are both strong lads, both physically and mentally and they will be back as soon as they can.
"It's not great news but we have been in this situation before and we have had to deal with setbacks in the past, but it presents other players with an opportunity now and it's up to them to step up to the plate.
"It's taken me a couple of days to get my head around it but you can't be too pessimistic because that feeds through everybody, we still have to believe and like I say it gives others a chance."
