Osmajic let club down - Heckingbottom

Preston North End head coach Paul Heckingbottom felt let down by Milutin Osmajic following the Montenegrin's eight-match ban for biting an opponent.

The former Sheffield United boss welcomes back the 25-year-old forward for Preston's Championship game at home to Derby County on Saturday but accepts he has been left disappointed by the circumstances leading to Osmajic's absence.

Osmajic received the lengthy punishment by the FA for biting Blackburn Rovers' Owen Beck in September's Lancashire derby. He was also fined £15,000.

"He knows he’s let us down, let himself down, let me down, let the team down, let the fans down," Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"Listen, people make mistakes but why we feel let down, when we’re looking at our performances over the piece, and the chances we’ve been creating, I want to make sure he realises that he could have been scoring goals.

"People could have been saying some great things about him - so he knows he’s let himself down in that respect and also from our point of view we’re missing the goals and the points".

Osmajic scored twice in a 3-0 home victory over Watford last month, his final appearance before his ban started and over the period without him, North End have found the target just eight times and won just once, in all competitions.

"Its been a big loss because I think he responded really well when he came through the door, we were really pleased with him, and hopefully we can pick up where we left off," Heckingbottom added.