Ryan Lowe was disappointed with the mistakes and individual errors which led to Bristol City’s two goals in the defeat at Deepdale.
Preston North End went behind just six minutes in when Robbie Brady’s pass towards Freddie Woodman was intercepted by Mark Sykes, who rounded the goalkeeper to give his side the lead.
The Robins then doubled their advantage with the final kick of the half – in the third minute of stoppage-time – as Sam Bell tapped home from six yards.
Ched Evans did get a goal back for his side in the second half, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to affect the outcome of the game.
Ryan said: “I’m disappointed with the goals. The first one’s obviously a mistake which you can’t account for, and the second one we should be doing better with.
“We saw a reaction in the second half, so coming out and having a real good go was pleasing for me, but ultimately when you make mistakes like that they cost you.
“At 2-0, it’s a mountain to climb, isn’t it? And that’s the frustrating part.
“If we go in at 1-0 down, we come out in the second half and have some good chances, Ched [Evans] scores and who knows?
“But ultimately you can’t go in 2-0 down in any division, let alone the Championship because we know how tough it is.
“What I did see is a reaction from the group afterwards, but it’s disappointing. We’ve got to make sure we put it right as quickly as we possibly can.”
PNE lined up in a slightly different formation to the one usually seen, with Evans, Liam Delap and Tom Cannon starting as a front three.
There were opportunities for all three on the day and North End pushed for an equaliser in the last half hour of the game, but it wasn’t to arrive.
“We have to look at the positives of course,” the manager added. “But maybe one or two of our players are a little bit scared of getting on the ball and doing the right things, and putting the ball in the box.
“The ball goes back and there’s a few jeers but we’re trying to get the ball up the top end of the pitch, trying to create chances and I think we limited them to one chance in the second half.
“The quality probably hasn’t been there as such. I’ve had a chat with the lads in there and they’re still with us.
“Are they still going to do what we ask them to do? Are they going to get on the front foot and play? Of course, yeah they are.
“We can’t account for mistakes and individual errors. Our misfortune in front of goal – yeah, we can do a little bit better.
"We can get shots off earlier, we can get more crosses off earlier, but it’s not for the lack of trying.
“It’s just disappointing because the home form has not been as good as the away form.”
