19-09-2025, 13:24
The manager speaks
Paul Heckingbottom is hopeful of being able to welcome back Milutin Osmajić for this weekend’s match against Derby County.
The striker has missed the last two Championship matches and was touch and go for the Middlesbrough clash, but the Montenegrin is that step closer for the trip to Pride Park.
Brad Potts is also nearing a return, albeit he’s still a few weeks off, meanwhile Robbie Brady has been ruled out for a number of months.
With last weekend’s squad full of contracted professionals, the addition of even one injured player provides the gaffer with a selection headache as it means someone will have to miss out from the 20-man squad.
Hecky said: “That only happened once or twice last season and if everyone's fit and there are decisions to make then I would welcome them. It is tough. It's not nice but I would welcome them and we'd probably make decisions then based game on game.
“I know what type of game I'm expecting from Derby for example so you pick a team accordingly. Probably something that you don't speak about as much is if you have got the choice you can pick a bench accordingly as well, depending on if you're winning, if you're losing, what their strengths are, what you might have to deal with and the more options you've got to do that over the season it’s bound to get you more points.”
North End will take on the Rams in search of a first away victory in the league this season.
The same journey was made towards the end of the last campaign and it was John Eustace’s side who came out on top. Both teams now look very different, though, with PNE adding 12 new players over the summer and Derby recruiting 13.
Hecky said: “It’ll be a tough game from what I've seen of Derby. They're showing all those strengths that they showed last season when I saw them. They know how to stay in games and know how to make it difficult for opponents. They’re not embarrassed to win the games by making it tough and then scoring late goals as they did against Bristol City and West Brom so it's going to be a tough, tough game.
“John's put a lot more firepower in at the front end as well to make them more of a threat. He improved it by changing the squad, adding players, but still maintained that toughness if you like which they showed last year.
“I'm looking forward to it for lots of different reasons. It's going to be tough. Our team will be a lot different [compared to the last meeting] and probably we’ll look more different than them in terms of set up, style, personnel. They’re not an easy team to play against as anyone who's played them so far will say and it's going to be a real test for us.”
Paul Heckingbottom is hopeful of being able to welcome back Milutin Osmajić for this weekend’s match against Derby County.
The striker has missed the last two Championship matches and was touch and go for the Middlesbrough clash, but the Montenegrin is that step closer for the trip to Pride Park.
Brad Potts is also nearing a return, albeit he’s still a few weeks off, meanwhile Robbie Brady has been ruled out for a number of months.
With last weekend’s squad full of contracted professionals, the addition of even one injured player provides the gaffer with a selection headache as it means someone will have to miss out from the 20-man squad.
Hecky said: “That only happened once or twice last season and if everyone's fit and there are decisions to make then I would welcome them. It is tough. It's not nice but I would welcome them and we'd probably make decisions then based game on game.
“I know what type of game I'm expecting from Derby for example so you pick a team accordingly. Probably something that you don't speak about as much is if you have got the choice you can pick a bench accordingly as well, depending on if you're winning, if you're losing, what their strengths are, what you might have to deal with and the more options you've got to do that over the season it’s bound to get you more points.”
North End will take on the Rams in search of a first away victory in the league this season.
The same journey was made towards the end of the last campaign and it was John Eustace’s side who came out on top. Both teams now look very different, though, with PNE adding 12 new players over the summer and Derby recruiting 13.
Hecky said: “It’ll be a tough game from what I've seen of Derby. They're showing all those strengths that they showed last season when I saw them. They know how to stay in games and know how to make it difficult for opponents. They’re not embarrassed to win the games by making it tough and then scoring late goals as they did against Bristol City and West Brom so it's going to be a tough, tough game.
“John's put a lot more firepower in at the front end as well to make them more of a threat. He improved it by changing the squad, adding players, but still maintained that toughness if you like which they showed last year.
“I'm looking forward to it for lots of different reasons. It's going to be tough. Our team will be a lot different [compared to the last meeting] and probably we’ll look more different than them in terms of set up, style, personnel. They’re not an easy team to play against as anyone who's played them so far will say and it's going to be a real test for us.”
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