Wright undergoes groin op

In-form Preston face being without Bailey Wright for another few weeks after he underwent a minor operation on a groin problem.

The central defender has not played since the start of October and has missed the bulk of an eight-match winning streak which has propelled North End to second in Sky Bet League One. Wright, who was in his country's squad at the World Cup over the summer, went under the knife this week and faces a short spell on the sidelines as a result. "Bailey went up for an operation on Tuesday just gone," boss Simon Grayson explained. "We've got to a situation with him where we've decided that he needed to do something after speaking to specialists and consultants. "It's the injury he picked up while being away in Australia and he battled on with it, but we just felt that we needed to get it sorted for the long term, rather than the short term. "He probably at times wasn't doing himself justice with his performances so we felt we had to get it sorted. It's an injury that will keep him out a few weeks rather than months. "As much as it's disappointing to lose him, it was felt it was needed for our benefit and for Bailey's benefit as well. You could keep turning him over and playing him at 80 per cent and somewhere down the line it's probably going to cause him more problems than it is at this stage, so we took the decision that we would get the operation done and lose him for a few weeks. "I'm not going to put a time-scale on it but it was something we felt we could get done and then at least we know where we are." Even without Wright and last season's fellow first-choice centre-back Tom Clarke, North End have managed to keep three clean sheets in a row on the road during their fine run of form. "That's testament to the players that have come into the team, Jack (King) and Paul Huntington have done very well," added Grayson. "When we didn't have Tom as well in the last two games we've showed the whole team are there to work for each other and keep clean sheets. It's part and parcel of the squad game. "People like Paul Huntington have not played a lot of football but he's been a credit to his profession that he's kept on going. He said he wanted to wait for an opportunity and he's reaping the rewards of that." Meanwhile, North End's first-round FA Cup tie at Havant and Waterlooville has been selected for TV coverage and so has been moved to Monday, November 10 as a result. That has forced the Lilywhites to postpone their Johnstone's Paint Trophy trip to Oldham, which had been due to take place 24 hours later, to Tuesday, November 25. Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts