Preston rage over Maguire

Seán Maguire

Aidan Fitzmaurice

Preston boss Alex Neil is unhappy at the prospect of losing Seán Maguire for the rest of this year because he picked up another injury on international duty.

Maguire came on as a second-half sub in last week's friendly at home to Northern Ireland but was then substituted 12 minutes later and he now faces a spell on the sideline. The striker previously picked up an injury on Ireland duty in May and the club are clearly not happy. "I don't think we'll see Sean until January which is disappointing," manager Neil said.

"Him coming back, although he didn't feature in every match, really boosted competition for places and his return coincided with seven games unbeaten for us.

"We just felt like we were getting him going, I thought he put in a really good performance at Bristol City.

"We'd gradually built up his minutes but then the week where he would have a down week with us and recovered, he then has to go away on international duty. We're just really frustrated and disappointed."

But Sheffield United have thanked the Ireland staff for sending John Egan back to the club for treatment after he picked up a knock in the Northern Ireland game.

"They made the decision to send John back and we're delighted they took the sensible approach," United manager Chris Wilder said.