There are fears that defensive stalwart Liam Chilvers could face months on the sidelines after suffering a suspected rupture of the Achilles tendon.

The centre-half, who has been an integral part of Preston's recent run of good form, freakishly picked up the injury whilst stepping backwards when participating in the pre-match warm-up.

Chilvers had been named in PNE's starting XI against Charlton but Alan Irvine was forced to make a late change with Billy Jones stepping in after originally being named on the substitutes bench.

The Gaffer explained: "Nothing has been confirmed yet but it looks like a bad injury. We fear that he's ruptured his Achilles tendon, which is a real shame for the lad because he's been so steady and solid for us.

"He's been a big part of what we have done in recent months, and I'm really disappointed for the lad because he deserved to keep playing on through to the end of the season.

"Fortunately we have Sean St Ledger at centre-back who's always done a very good job for us there, so we were able to move him across and put Billy Jones in at right back.

"It's fortunate that we had the cover, because there have been times this season where we wouldn't have coped with that. Because of the sheer lack of numbers, we have often been down to the last four defenders, and I don't know who would have played then!"