Tom Barkhuizen conceded that Preston North End were not good enough at Adams Park as he gave an honest post-match assessment of the 1-0 defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.
The Lilywhites were beaten by Ryan Tafazolli’s 27th-minute header and their improved efforts to find an equaliser after the break were ultimately in vain.
The No.29 came off the bench at the break and helped the Lilywhites to find an extra threat in attack, but said he and his team-mates need to do better.
He told iFollow PNE: “It’s not just frustrating, it’s just not good enough and it’s not been good enough consistently for probably the whole season. It kind of sums it up. We need to buck our ideas up and pretty quickly before we’re dragged into a dogfight.
“It’s annoying because all week we’re working on playing and then we get to the game and we don’t play. Second half they probably dropped off a little bit more and sensed more of a threat in behind, which is what they’re going to do at 1-0, they’re fighting for their lives and they need every point they can get.
“Just as importantly, we need every point we can get. It’s hard to put your finger on what’s going wrong but the bottom line is it’s not good enough and it needs to turn around quickly.”
The winger also highlighted a need for greater consistency in results from North End.
“It’s just been one of those seasons where consistency’s not been there and the results show that. We’ve got two big games coming up because then we’ve got three of the best teams in the league coming up after that.
“To be honest I think we’re all sick of saying, ‘We go again’, and, ‘We’ll try and do better next time.’ It just needs to be better and that’s the bottom line.”
The 27-year-old spoke of the physical threat of the visitors in the first half, and while admitting that things didn’t quite fall for PNE after the break, Barkhuizen said the onus is on the players themselves to improve.
“I think we knew what their threat was going to be, we knew it was going to be set plays, we knew it was going to be long balls into the box, and that’s where we concede from.
“We know that they’re a big team and that’s the biggest threat that they’ve got and they use it well. At this point of the season especially, we need to stand up and be counted and we’ve not done that.
“Second half, we huffed and puffed, we created a few half chances, got the ball quite a lot in their box, I say things aren’t falling for us but today they just didn’t fall for us. But we also need to be better and that’s the bottom line.
“We tried to get in good areas in the second half and to be fair we did and they defended as well as they could and they held on for a 1-0. We just need to be better all-round and to pick up points quickly.”
Watch Barky’s post-match thoughts in full on iFollow PNE.