Preston Athletic hoping injury list clears for title run-in

Half a dozen players are currently on the sidelines for the Pennypit side, who were busy challenging for the top spot in First Division Conference B when the league was temporarily halted for the League Cup.

The county team do not have another league contest until the beginning of next month, having played just one league game since the end of February.

Jack Lynch’s team top their League Cup group after a 1-1 draw away to Dunipace on Saturday.

However, the draw came at a cost as they lost Daniel Garvey to a broken ankle, which will likely keep him out for the rest of the season.

Jack Lynch is anticipating a busy end to the campaign for Preston Athletic

Lynch described the tackle on Garvey, who joined the club earlier this year having been playing amateur football, as “a horrific challenge”.

He said: “Daniel is probably not going to play again this season.

“The referee booked the Dunipace player. “Daniel had knocked it past him and it was just a weird challenge where he came in and threw in a last-ditch challenge.

“You could see straight away that it was a bad injury.”

Lynch told Courier Sport that the injury list did not end with Garvey, who had an effort ruled out for offside at Westfield Park.

Preston Athletic, pictured against Bathgate Thistle, take on Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale tomorrow (Friday)

He said: “We’ve had Paul Currie, who has been outstanding for us this year, out.

“He has been a leader and an older head full of experience.

“He is a born winner and his fitness levels are ridiculous for a 37-year-old.

“He keeps up with everybody doing short, sharp training drills or endurance – he is at the front of anything we do because he has just got that winning mentality.

“We have got Kai Austin, who played through injury on Saturday because we never had a full squad.

“We just got Matty O’Connor back, Thomas Prior is injured, Andy McNeil was on holiday.

“Kieran Jack and Nathan Stokes are injured and we had Byron Archibald working on Saturday and could not play.”

The draw with Dunipace, who are in First Division Conference A, came after Preston had thumped Bathgate Thistle 5-0.

Six of Preston Athletic's remaining league games are away from home

The win means the Panners top their League Cup group ahead of travelling to Premier Division outfit Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale tomorrow (Friday).

Travelling is something the Prestonpans side are going to have to be accustomed to in the coming weeks.

They have nine league games left to play, with six of those contests on the road.

That includes trips to Glenrothes and Heriot-Watt University, with games against Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare, Luncarty and Lochore Welfare all yet to be pencilled in.

The manager said that the run-in to the end of the season was going to be “really difficult”.

He added: “Every game from now, for me, is a cup final.

"That is the way it is going to be approached.

“We are seeing teams coming to us – Oakley celebrated the win against us like they won the league because they knew it was a big result.

“We got beat by Burntisland Shipyard and they celebrated like they had won the league too.

“That is what Preston have become – we have become a team that people want to beat, a scalp to be taken, and I suppose that is testament to the players and the way the club has come on in the last few years.”