The U18s dropped three points for the first time in two months, succumbing to a 3-0 defeat against Burnley at Victory Park, Chorley at the weekend.
A game in which Academy boss Nick Harrison described as a ‘bad day at the office’, North End fell behind as early as the 12th minute after the Clarets number nine Tommy Wood headed the visitors in front.
Khius Metz doubled their advantage mid-way through the first-half after PNE’s Jonathan Lunney forced the Burnley ‘keeper Tony Aghayere into a terrific save just moments before at the other end.
PNE ‘keeper Callum Roberts kept the deficit at two saving Metz’s penalty in the second-half, but he couldn’t deny the Clarets man his second with three minutes remaining, with a delightful finish past the Preston keeper to make it 3-0 in the away sides favour.
“I don’t think we deserved to win the game today,” told Harrison, who spoke to the Club website after the game.
“We had some good chances yes but we made some silly mistakes as a team to let them into good positions and to be fair to them, they took their chances.
“It’s a bad day at the office – but they’re young lads and still developing, so if they can use this and learn from the experience in the next few games then brilliant.
“Obviously if they keep putting out performances like that then we’ve got a problem so they’ve now got to get back onto the training ground and work hard and look at the mistakes and go through it with them, but like I say it’s all about them learning.”
Prior to the Burnley encounter, North End had conceded just one goal in six games, and although the stats would suggest North End were unfortunate in their 3-0 defeat, their lack of composure in the final third ultimately cost them three points.
“We felt we could have passed it better, but there were moments in the game where we had good possession and we created chances but we just weren’t clinical enough - the games about putting the ball in the back of the net, and we couldn’t do it, but they did it three times and that’s why they’ve won the game.
“For the last two months we’ve performed very well, but on this occasion we haven’t - they’ve performed better than us and have deserved to win the game.
“I don’t think it’s something we need to worry about. We’ve got good players at this club and I’m sure the boys will learn from their mistakes and they can show everybody in their next game how good they are.”
Khius Metz doubled their advantage mid-way through the first-half after PNE’s Jonathan Lunney forced the Burnley ‘keeper Tony Aghayere into a terrific save just moments before at the other end.
PNE ‘keeper Callum Roberts kept the deficit at two saving Metz’s penalty in the second-half, but he couldn’t deny the Clarets man his second with three minutes remaining, with a delightful finish past the Preston keeper to make it 3-0 in the away sides favour.
“I don’t think we deserved to win the game today,” told Harrison, who spoke to the Club website after the game.
“We had some good chances yes but we made some silly mistakes as a team to let them into good positions and to be fair to them, they took their chances.
“It’s a bad day at the office – but they’re young lads and still developing, so if they can use this and learn from the experience in the next few games then brilliant.
“Obviously if they keep putting out performances like that then we’ve got a problem so they’ve now got to get back onto the training ground and work hard and look at the mistakes and go through it with them, but like I say it’s all about them learning.”
Prior to the Burnley encounter, North End had conceded just one goal in six games, and although the stats would suggest North End were unfortunate in their 3-0 defeat, their lack of composure in the final third ultimately cost them three points.
“We felt we could have passed it better, but there were moments in the game where we had good possession and we created chances but we just weren’t clinical enough - the games about putting the ball in the back of the net, and we couldn’t do it, but they did it three times and that’s why they’ve won the game.
“For the last two months we’ve performed very well, but on this occasion we haven’t - they’ve performed better than us and have deserved to win the game.
“I don’t think it’s something we need to worry about. We’ve got good players at this club and I’m sure the boys will learn from their mistakes and they can show everybody in their next game how good they are.”