Despite back-to-back wins in the last week against bitter rivals Blackpool and then Queens Park Rangers, it would appear that Preston North End's season is all-but over.

The Lilywhites look to have too much to do when it comes to getting into the play-off places - they sit eight points off sixth-placed Sheffield United with five games to play, however with six teams between them it would take a monumental effort and swing of results for it to happen.

Ryan Lowe can almost start looking towards the 2022-23 season now but he will still want to end the current campaign strongly - one thing he has promised though is to give at least one youth player a chance in the coming weeks.

However let's look at TWO North End youngsters that could be given a chance to impress when Millwall visit Deepdale on Friday afternoon.

Mikey O'Neill

It will come as no surprise to North End fans if O'Neill is given a bit longer than the three minutes he was afforded late on against QPR at the weekend.

The Liverpool-born youngster has been at the club for nearly 10 years and he was handed his senior debut on Saturday afternoon after his goalscoring exploits for the under-19's this season impressed Lowe, which saw him called up to first-team training.

Able to operate as an attack-minded midfielder or a striker, O'Neill offers versatility and another option off the bench - especially with Emil Riis being a doubt with a hamstring injury.

Aaron Bennett

It's been over two years now since Bennett was reportedly going to be fast-tracked to the first-team by then-manager Alex Neil when he was just 15 years old, but since then the attacking midfielder has had to deal with some serious injury issues.

Having returned to action two months ago, Bennett is clearly making up for lost time and he starred in an 8-1 demolition job for the under-19's in their victory over Port Vale on Tuesday afternoon - a win in which sealed the EFL Youth Alliance North West Conference title.

Bennett was integral to that as he smashed in a hat-trick for the Lilywhites - this coming after he assisted twice and scored for the reserves in a match against Accrington Stanley recently - and he's clearly a player that Lowe has taken a look at already as he recently revealed that he's set Bennett some targets in order to make sure he secures a professional contract.

His recent performances make him hard to ignore though and it would be interesting to see if he made it into the squad against the Lions on Friday and then onto the pitch.