Alan Browne said he was ‘absolutely gutted’ following Preston North End’s 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Ben Brereton Diaz headed in the only goal of the game eight minutes into the second half to give the home side the Lancashire derby spoils.
Speaking to iFollow PNE, Browney said: “I’m absolutely gutted. I think they have one chance the whole game and they took it. I think that was a difference.
“It was a horrible game, it was never going to be the case of a team outclassing the other. I think you saw plenty of times the ball stopping in the grass.
It was horrible conditions and it was never going to be a pretty game but having said that I thought that we were the better team. If anyone was going to go and win it and I thought it would have been us.
“Our final ball let us down, we didn’t take chances and we were punished at the other end. It’s just not good enough.”
The skipper was particularly disappointed as he felt the game was a close one.
“I think if you’re outclassed, you hold your hands up and accept that,” he added. “I thought we looked pretty comfortable in the majority of the game but it wasn’t pretty at times.
“We knew what we had to do to play to the conditions and we just couldn’t get that goal. They’ve gone up the other end and punished us again. It’s just a kick in the face really. We just need to fix it sooner rather than later.
“I don’t think going into conditions like today you can necessarily be consistent, you’ve just got to play the game and it was a horrible game. I thought we played it well but results are what matters and that’s what’s going to get us up the league.
“We’re up and down and I feel like a few wins under our belt would get us right there, but when it comes to that all-important game, we let ourselves down time and time again. It’s just not good enough.
“I think we probably could have put a bit more pressure on them but I think it was kind of consistent throughout the game.
“I think we limited them to one chance basically and I know we didn’t create too many clear-cut chances, but we had plenty of opportunities to put a decent ball in the box having worked it well. In the end they’ve had one chance and one goal and that’s the difference in this league.”
North End had a strong shout for a penalty late in the contest for a hand ball, but Browne said the team can’t rely on refereeing decisions.
“I have seen it again so it’s obviously disappointing, but we can’t put our results onto referees not giving a penalty, it’s not really 100 per cent a penalty. You see them given and you see them not given. We’ve got to be better than just blaming the refereeing decisions.”
There were 4,330 travelling North End fans in the away end at Ewood Park and North End’s No.8 was frustrated not to send them home with a better result.
“I thought they were loud, really got behind us and backed us today. We could hear them throughout the game, I thought they were fantastic. It’s obviously disappointing for them as much as us. I just hope they keep coming out, supporting us and backing us, keep the numbers coming through the gate and we will do our best to turn the season around.”
Watch Browney’s post-match thoughts in full on iFollow PNE.