Preston North End's Greg Cunningham happy to be back in the thick of it after serious injury

The 32-year-old suffered a serious hamstring injury that required surgery during the 4-0 defeat to Middlesbrough in March.

But he’s been in amongst it from day one of pre-season, which started on Monday for Ryan Lowe’s men, and he’s already looking forward to Saturday’s opener against Bamber Bridge.

He told the Lancashire Post: “Regardless, when you come back for pre-season you're expecting the worst. It's been quite calculated, it's been a tough week but it's one where we've been able to get the balls out. It's not just been stopwatches and running.

"We've been incorporating a lot of our fitness with the ball and it's a bit of a distraction rather than just running around the pitch. It's been great, it's been positive. It's been nice to get in amongst it with the boys and get us all back together. Start off on day one as we mean to go on.

“We've got a game against Bamber Bridge and then we head to Spain for a week which will be a nice change of scenery, then we're back in the games.