North End midfielder Keith Keane admits that he and his teammates were punished for a poor first half performance against Peterborough United.
The Lilywhites went into the half-time interval trailing by two goals to nil and despite a much improved second half performance; they were unable to forge a way onto the scoresheet.
Assessing the match, Keane said: “The first half was just a case of a bad day at the office, we didn’t turn up and sometimes you can get away with it, but against better teams like today, you can’t, we got punished and it ended up being too much to come back from.
“We just have to put it down as a bad day, a good team is all about how you react and like I say, today is a bad day, but it is all about how you react for the next game and getting back to positive ways.”
The game could have been oh so different for the Lilywhites if Kevin Davies’ close range shot was not blocked at 0-0 and Preston hit the crossbar twice and had a Tom Clarke header cleared off the line in the second half, but Keano had no complaints when all was said and done.
“Every game is all about ifs and buts,” continued the PNE captain.
“Goals change games, they took their chances and the game changed in their favour, so they have taken their chances and won the game.”
What is unquestionable following the match is that Peterborough will be there or thereabouts in the promotion race come May and Keane insists that the North End dressing room know exactly what is required if they are to be joining the Posh in the mix.
The PNE No.2 added: “We have played against some of the top teams already and we know exactly what it is all about to get promotion.
“It is a shame because we knew what they were going to be like, we knew they were going to be good, but for whatever reason we just never turned up in the first half.
“We can’t really put our finger on it, we are just disappointed that we knew how tough it was going to be and we didn’t turn up and you get punished against the better teams.”
Preston North End has a chance to put defeat out their system immediately when Oldham Athletic – on the back of a 1-1 draw with Leyton Orient at Boundary Park, visit Deepdale on Tuesday.
And Keane can’t wait for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy clash to come along now, as Preston look to do the quick fire double over the Latics, following League One success last month.
“The quicker the games the better,” stated the central midfielder.
“We have another chance to turn it around and get back to positive ways, try and get a win and get back to winning ways.”