Ryan Lowe delivers cryptic Preston North End transfer update after win over Swansea City

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe praised his side’s character in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Swansea City - and is now looking ahead to a vital final week of the transfer window.

The Lilywhites’ boss saw his side make it 10 points from 12 and maintain their unbeaten start to the Championship season. Second half goals from Andrew Hughes and Duane Holmes turned the game on its head, after Harrison Ashby’s close range strike sent the visitors in ahead at half-time.

Hughes headed in from Alan Browne’s inviting cross on 67 minutes and Holmes arrived to crash home the winner 12 minutes later, after sparkling wide play from Mads Frokjaer. North End did it the hard way, but Lowe was proud of his team come the full-time whistle.

“It’s down to the players,” said Lowe. “Me and Marshy had a chat and we wanted to change one or two things. We got Ali on the pitch and got Duane and Mads out wide, causing problems, with Browney in the ten. We obviously surprised them by doing that and we ended up scoring two goals by doing it. We then flipped back to a back three, because we felt we needed to.”

Lowe added: “Fair play to the group, they have been fantastic. Going a goal down was tough and we know we could’ve done better for their goal, but we showed the attitude and application after that and then raised it in the second half. I asked for a bit more in the pressing and for the lads to show the resilience to come back, it’s very pleasing.

“They are all doing fantastically well and listening to the instructions. They caused us one or two problems in the first half, but once we dealt with that at half time, I thought we were the better team. I thought we played some good football in the second half, in their half.

“We moved it from one side to the other, dropped out into areas where we could create and wide centre-backs stepped in to overload and make three-v-twos. That’s what we want to do: overload the sides and get players into positions we can potentially create some chances.”

Next week is North End’s final chance for PNE to build on their six summer signings, with the transfer window closing at 11pm on Friday. Preston are desperate for attacking additions, with Will Keane the only fit senior striker currently at the club. Lowe is expecting deals to get done.

When asked if his number one striker target was looking unlikely, PNE’s boss said: “We’ve had to move - we were not just looking at one person.”

And when then asked directly if Everton’s Tom Cannon is out of reach, he said: “I don’t know. That’s for someone else to answer. We’ll just keep doing what we need to do. We’ve got options; that is the main thing and we’ll be active this week. If it has to go into Friday night it will.

“I don’t really want that, because we have to travel to Stoke on the Friday and I don’t want to be staying at the training ground until all hours. But, if it means be, it means be. We are alright. We’ve got Plan A and Plan B in process. Hopefully Plan A comes off.”