Ahead of Saturday’s clash against Wolves, Simon Grayson acknowledged he isn’t short of options despite having one of the smallest squads in the division.
Speaking at Springfields training ground this morning, the gaffer praised the adaptability of his players as North End get set to travel to the Black Country on the back of a 2-1 victory over Huddersfield last weekend.
Grayson awarded rare starts to Jordan Hugill and Callum Robinson for that game and the manager is confident he has the players to cope with numerous systems.
“We’ve not got the biggest squads numbers wise but we’ve got players that are versatile and players that are equally comfortable in different systems - We’ll utilise that as much as we can and pick a team that’s going to do us justice on the day and gives us a victory.
“We need lads to be ready – John Welsh is a good example at not being in the squad and suddenly getting 30 minutes of football on Saturday and he made a big difference for us.
“There are other lads that have not had much game time over the last few weeks who’ve trained well and are ready to be called upon. Jordan and Callum hadn’t started a game for a while so they’ve all got to be on their toes and all working hard to be ready for the first-team.”
This weekend will mark the 118th time Preston and Wolves have met, with the last time these sides met probably being the most controversial of the lot.
North End were reduced to nine men in that game as Bailey Wright and Joe Garner were both sent back down to the tunnel, whilst Kevin McDonald’s screamer in the last minute cancelled out Daniel Johnson’s early opener, and Grayson is hoping for a less controversial game this time around.
He added: “The lads did fantastically well that day - we were resilient and limited them to few opportunities. Joe [Garner] and Bailey [Wright] obviously got sent off which left us with nine men and then we had the absolute screamer in the top corner from McDonald. It wasn’t necessarily an injustice but it was a disappointment.
“Hopefully there’s less incidents this time around and if there is, we’ll hope it’s for the home team."
To hear more the Preston manager as he looks to make it back-to-back wins this weekend, head to PNE PlayerHD here.