Hull City striker Liam Delap will miss a return to face Preston North End this weekend as he battles back from injury.
PNE face a huge clash this weekend, hosting Hull City at Deepdale.
North End have catapulted themselves back into the Championship play-off mix and are ultimately trying to chase Hull in sixth place.
The gap is just three points and PNE will be looking to claim an enormous win this weekend.
Hull have some quality players and will pose a major threat, but one player we won’t be seeing is striker Liam Delap.
Liam Delap to miss PNE trip
PNE fans saw Delap arrive at North End last season, joining on loan in the January transfer window.
Tabbed as something of a wonderkid at Manchester City, Delap struggled in the first half of last season whilst on loan with Stoke City.
City scrapped that move and allowed Delap to join PNE, but his time at North End was mixed.
Delap managed just one goal in 15 appearances for North End but was limited to just six starts.
Delap ended the season strongly with a goal at Sheffield United and forcing an own goal against Blackburn Rovers, but he didn’t return to PNE.
Hull City pounced and Delap has been in good form this season, hitting seven goals and two assists in 26 appearances.
Delap hasn’t featured since New Year’s Day though, picking up a knee injury which has kept him out of action.
Whilst the striker has returned to training, he will not be playing against North End this weekend.
Boss Liam Rosenior has confirmed that Delap is being sent abroad for warm weather training ahead of his eventual return.
“It’s not a holiday, he’s working. He’s going away to do his rehab in the sun,” said Rosenior. “The vitamin D will help his recovery levels and he’ll go away and come back, hopefully fresher and hopefully fitter and then we’ll see how it gets,” he added.
Delap won’t be back at Deepdale this weekend but if he gets himself back fully fit again soon, he could have a big, big say on the play-off race.