Heckingbottom Disappointed by Osmajic’s Eight-Match Ban

Preston North End head coach Paul Heckingbottom expressed his disappointment with Milutin Osmajic following the Montenegrin player’s eight-match suspension for biting an opponent. The former Sheffield United manager is set to welcome back the 25-year-old forward for Preston’s upcoming Championship fixture against Derby County at home on Saturday, but acknowledged his dissatisfaction regarding the circumstances that led to Osmajic’s period of absence. Osmajic received the extensive penalty from the FA for biting Owen Beck of Blackburn Rovers during the Lancashire derby in September. He was also issued a fine of £15,000. “He knows he’s let us down, let himself down, let me down, let the team down, let the fans down,” Heckingbottom stated to BBC Radio Lancashire. He continued, “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 had scored two goals in a 3-0 home victory against Watford last month, which marked his final appearance before his ban commenced. During the period of his unavailability, North End managed to score only eight goals and secured just one win across 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 further commented.