Ryan Lowe is asking for his players and supporters of the club to not get too frustrated as PNE look to turn their home fortunes around.
North End are back at Deepdale on Saturday for the visit of Middlesbrough, and they’ll be looking to improve on their record there, having taken seven points from eight matches in PR1.
While he’s very keen for his side to start taking more from their home games, Ryan feels it’s important that his players play with an element of patience in order to do so.
He told iFollow PNE: “You want that home form to get up, but there’s got to be a bit of patience.
“Teams are coming to us and have come to us – you look back to the Rotherhams and the Hulls who sat everyone behind the ball and stopped us scoring, which was good for them but not so good for us.
“We need to make sure we don’t get too frustrated. My message to the players is don’t get too frustrated, be nice and calm.
“My message to the fans will be don’t get frustrated, stick with the boys and get behind them because it’s going to be important that collectively as a group – whether that’s the players, the fans, the staff around – we all need to be a little bit patient going forward because this league is a tough league and as you’ve seen anyone can beat anyone.”
This weekend PNE will come up against a Boro side who will be managed by head coach Michael Carrick for the first time, following his appointment earlier in the week.
As is the case with all new managers and head coaches, he will no doubt be going in there to implement his own ideas.
Ryan added: “They’re a good team, and they’ve got some good players.
“Michael’s gone in there to put his stamp on it. I think there’s been reports the past few games that he’s picked the team anyway and the formation, so I think we know what we’re expecting.
“We’re expecting a tough encounter of course, as we always are, but it’s one we’re looking forward to to get back on the bike, as I’ve said many times, to try and get a result, and that’ll be our focus.”
Carrick’s side arrive hovering dangerously above the division’s bottom three, but with the quality in their ranks there will be high hopes that it’ll be the other end of the league they’re challenging come May.
A few positive results on the bounce can almost change the course of a season as things stand, such is the nature of the division, and that’s something Ryan is well aware of.
The manager said: “I know there’s a lot of frustration not just at Preston North End but every football club up and down the divisions – let alone the Championship – because everyone wants to be doing so well.
“If you look at the Championship table, it’s so tight, isn’t it? Two wins catapults you straight up to third or fourth, and two losses catapults you down.
“I think in Middlesbrough’s case, they’re only a couple of wins away from trying to get back up because they’ve got a good fanbase, a good club and they’ve got some good players, and now they’ve got a young manager who’s going to want to do as well as he possibly can.”
The manager also provided a team news update ahead of the weekend, with Greg Cunningham expected to be available following a sickness bug, while he also provided an update on Andrew Hughes, who missed the weekend’s defeat at Bloomfield Road.
Ryan said: “He had something up with his thigh. He wasn’t aware of it until after the Huddersfield game, and then obviously ahead of Saturday we got it looked at and it wasn’t good.
“He’s out on the grass today (Thursday). Whether he’ll be ready for Saturday we won’t know until tomorrow, but he’s recovering and healing quite well.
“Whether he’ll be ready for Saturday we’re not too sure yet, but we’ll give him every possible chance.”