Ryan Lowe felt his Preston North End side were let down by what they did in both boxes during the defeat away to Millwall.
Following three successive victories, North End made the journey to The Den to take on a Millwall side sat fifth in the Championship table.
The hosts took the lead through a Tom Bradshaw header 14 minutes in, but from that point on it was PNE creating all the chances.
None of them were taken, however, and they were ultimately punished in the 72nd minute when Zian Flemming made it two to seal victory for the home side.
Ryan told iFollow PNE: “I’m happy with the performance, I’m just not happy with the goals conceded.
“I thought for large parts of the game we were the better team. The first 15 minutes were a little bit ropey, which it’s going to be coming to The Den against Millwall with the way they play and how effective they are in that.
“But I thought then we were on the front foot and created some opportunities. We’ve created some good opportunities there to score and we haven't found the back of the net, so I think what sums the day up is both boxes.
“They were better in both boxes today, because even the chances we had they put bodies on the line, whereas we weren’t that clinical in front of goal and weren’t that solid and brave and strong in our defensive third and our 18-yard box, where we have been.
“To be done by two second-phase goals is disappointing.”
The result leaves PNE sat level with the Play-Off places, although that could change depending on Blackburn Rovers’ result on Saturday evening.
North End will return to action on Wednesday night when they face Swansea City on the road, before coming back to Deepdale to take on Rovers.
Ryan said: “It is hard to take but I’ve got to lift the lads up and I’ve said to them in there: ‘Well done for the performance, not so well done for the goals conceded.’
“I’ve shown the lads who were involved in the goals what they could have done better, and they held their hands up, they could have done better - we know that.
“But we knew what we were going to face today coming to Millwall. It’s just the way it is and the way they are.
“If we keep performing the way we did today then we’ll win games of football. We’ll score goals definitely and that’s what we need to do.
“We need to look for the next one as quickly as we possibly can. We can’t dwell on it and we’ve given ourselves a great opportunity to try and stay in the top half of the division.”