Ryan Lowe rues Preston North End errors at Ipswich Town as selection regret admitted

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe was left deflated after Saturday’s 4-2 defeat at Ipswich Town - the third straight loss in the Championship for his team.

After going eight matches unbeaten at the start of the campaign, North End have endured a tough eight days with defeats to West Brom, Leicester City and now the Tractor Boys. Preston levelled through Mads Frokjaer in the first half at Portman Road and Ben Whiteman restored some hope after the break, with his strike pulling it back to 3-2, but PNE were killed off 12 minutes from time.

Conor Chaplin, Brandon Williams, Nathan Broadhead and Kayden Jackson were all on the score sheet for Kieran McKenna’s side, as second saw off third in East Anglia. Lowe’s men have let in 11 goals in their last three matches and Preston’s boss was frustrated by the sloppiness of his side’s defending, in key moments against Ipswich.

“I was obviously disappointed with the first half,” said Lowe. “You can’t give a good team like Ipswich three goals in the first half and we have done. We knew what was coming with the first one - we showed it them yesterday and worked on it all week. We just watched it back with them and that’s the disappointing part, because Peter (Murphy) works hard on them and gives them all the information. It was probably a lack of communication with that goal: a player thinking someone was going to block the pass and they’ve got attracted to the man, not the ball.

“That has been a bit of a killer. The second one, the kid cannot just run sixty yards and put it into the bottom corner. The third one just epitomised our afternoon I think - a corner, second phase, third phase, it doesn’t come out and then it’s a tap in where we are nowhere near the numbers in the box. We made a few changes at half time and came out a lot better. Then, when we’re really pushing second half, they do us on the counter if you like - and come out with the ball when we should win those duels. So, overall, a tough afternoon.

“We asked for a bit more desire and belief second half and the lads did that. At 3-2 you have always got a fighting chance of getting a draw, but we didn’t come out with the ball on the right and you cannot leave good players unmarked - because they punish you. That is certainly what happened today. The lads have just watched the goals back, because I won’t see them for a few days now and they cannot dwell on it, nor me. They are all in admittance that it wasn’t good enough - for any of the goals - which is pleasing for me as the manager.

“A lot of people probably thought we wouldn’t get anything out of the game, but I did and I wanted my players to. It has probably been one of the toughest weeks since I’ve been here, in terms of the goals we’ve conceded and how we’ve conceded them. I was pleased for large parts of Leicester and for large parts of today - second half especially - but if you want to do anything in the division you’ve got to be better all around.

“And, if we are going to have a soft underbelly like we did today, with the goals, it is not going to fit. So, that is up to me to make sure that doesn’t happen. The lads are aware of that and we’ll have to reset now. I’ve looked at the table and we are still third, which is a massive positive, but the week has been a bit of a grueller. So, we will have to take our medicine and move on quickly, but we’ve got to be better.”

Lowe made four changes on the day, which included club captain Alan Browne coming back into the starting lineup after missing the midweek game entirely, due to illness. North End’s manager was left to regret that call post-match, as he admitted the Irishman wasn’t in ideal condition.

“Not really, no,” said Lowe, when asked if Browne was fine. “That is my bad, really. I probably shouldn’t have played him, but the captain wanted to play. He wasn’t feeling well before the game. We asked him but he is never going to say; I needed to take that out of his hands. You could see first half he wasn’t quite at it. He did alright, but when you’ve got someone of Alan Browne’s quality, you want him in and around your team.

“We thought he’d be okay, but he wasn’t, hence why he went off at half time. And we needed to freshen it up, so we did what we needed to do. We put Keano up there with Milutin, but then we had to make changes at half-time because it wasn’t quite working. But, the lads have been dead on their feet to go 60, 70, 80, 90 minutes against Leicester. We had to make changes and it wasn’t the changes, it was just the decision making in the game really. So yeah, we have to learn from it and move on quickly.”

Lowe also saw Jack Whatmough forced off after 27 minutes, with Patrick Bauer introduced for his first start of the league campaign.

“Jack Whatmough was complaining about his hamstring and again, I had to make a change,” said Lowe. “But, there are no excuses; we’ve got some good players and a quality squad in my eyes. That is us and we should have it where anyone can step in and do a job.”