Preston North End striker Layton Stewart continued his progress with two goals in a behind-closed-doors win over Manchester City.
The international break is coming to an end and we can start focusing on PNE once again.
North End host Cardiff City this weekend and have been gearing up with a behind-closed-doors friendly against a Manchester City XI.
It’s unclear just who was playing for City, but their big stars have been on international duty, so we can only imagine that it was a very young side.
This allows PNE players to get some minutes in the legs though and, as reported by the Lancashire Evening Post, North End ran out 3-0 winners.
Layton Stewart continues progress with PNE brace
That report highlights that Layton Stewart scored twice in PNE’s win with youngster Noah Mawene also finding the net.
This is a major boost for Stewart, who is looking to really kick on at Deepdale.
PNE swooped to sign Stewart over the summer as he decided to leave the Liverpool ranks.
This was certainly a project signing; Stewart had next to no experience of senior football before heading to North End.
Ryan Lowe accepted that Stewart was well off the pace in terms of the physical side of his game, and he was seemingly put on an individual training regime.
Lowe has though hailed Stewart as a ‘shining light’ in training of late, but he has only played nine minute of league action this season.
Stewart took his chance against a City XI with two goals, again showing his development in a PNE shirt.
The challenge now is for Stewart to really push for more first-team minutes given the major competition ahead of him.
Milutin Osmajic has been starting up top of late with Will Keane and Ched Evans – two experienced Championship attackers – also in the mix.
Add in that Emil Riis is on his way back from injury and Stewart faces rather daunting competition.
All the 21-year-old can do is keep taking his chances to shine and gradually pick up more and more minutes, hopefully continuing to improve along the way.