'Illness no excuse' - Heckingbottom

Paul Heckingbottom refused to use the illness which has affected his squad for their comprehensive defeat at West Brom, which had followed consecutive victories.

The Lilywhites were without defender Andrew Hughes for the 3-1 loss at The Hawthorns, while the manager indicated that Jack Whatmough and Jordan Storey, who both played a full 90 minutes, had also been affected by a bug.

North End had beaten Hull and Sheffield Wednesday over the Christmas period, conceding just one goal in the process, but were cut open by the Baggies in the first-half, with Josh Maja scoring twice and Callum Styles also on target.

When asked about Hughes' absence, Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire: "It's an excuse but we've had a little bit of illness going round.

"We had Pottsy [Brad Potts] previously and then Will [Keane], Sam [Greenwood] before the Boxing Day game, then Ali McCann before the last game. Then it was Hughesy, Jack and Jordan, really late.

"They wanted to play, which I expect. You can say it's an excuse but it's not - the same players were on the pitch and played a lot better second half.

"The moment you start letting players have an excuse to not perform, you're letting everyone else down. There were issues to deal with, definitely, but the three goals we conceded were terrible."