FORGOTTEN man Lee Briscoe is just weeks away from returning to action on the training field.

The left-sided midfielder, who moved to Deepdale from Burnley in the summer, has been battling with a hamstring injury which required surgery.

Briscoe has appeared just once, in pre-season, for North End but a return to the fray is imminent according to club physio Andrew Balderston.

He says Briscoe is finally getting towards joining regular training and added: "Within the next couple of weeks, he should be off my list and on the one for choosing players, which is excellent news."

A return to action for Briscoe, on a one-year-deal at Deepdale, will help provide extra options for North End on the left.

Rob Edwards has just returned from injury as well, while Eddie Lewis' performance on the left flank against West Brom should ensure he remains first choice for the wing-back position.

On the injury front Chris Lucketti's broken toe could keep him out of action again this weekend, when Preston travel to Watford.

Claude Davis may be fit again despite suffering tendonitis earlier in the week in training. Dickson Etuhu will be out until, at least the end of the month, after suffering ligament damage in his ankle early in Saturday's 3-0 win. He was stretchered off the pitch in the second minute and it was initally feared he had broken his leg.

David Lucas' permanent move to Sheffield Wednesday has hit the buffers after he injured his knee while playing for the Owls at the weekend.

He has had a scan on the knee and will be out for up to a month.

It is not known if Wednesday will make a fresh bid for him then but he faces a battle to get a place on the bench after Andrew Lonergan put in a confident performance deputising for injured Jonathan Gould at the weekend. Gould should be back between the posts this weekend, though.

Brown said: "What the weekend's game showed was that, despite having six players out of action, regular first team players like Lucketti, O'Neil, Gould, Davis and Koumantarkis, we still played very well and won.

"We have strength in depth and have proved that now. We are in with a chance now, but so are a lot of teams. We have to keep winning."