Finlay Wallbank felt he and his teammates lacked “intensity and quality” as Preston North End U19s lost 4-1 to Rochdale in the Youth Alliance League.
Two goals midway through the first half set the visitors on their way to victory.
Rio Pemberton pulled a goal back with a fine strike past the ‘keeper, but two more goals in the space of a couple minutes right before half-time saw Rochdale cruise to three points.
“I felt the whole team was missing intensity and quality today,” said Wallbank.
“In the first half especially we were very poor. The second half we did get more into it, but it wasn’t enough.
“We couldn’t get back into the game.
“The lack of quality on the ball really emphasised our struggles, and the goals we conceded were really poor.
“We have to do better as a team to stop them.”
The poor first half gave North End a lot of work to do to try and get back into the game.
“There were a few factors as to why that first half went poorly,” continued Wallbank.
“We didn’t press well from the front and we gave the ball away too much which led to easy goals.
“We didn’t move the ball around well and we know that we are at our best when we are moving the ball and playing forward, but we didn’t do that much today.”
All focus now turns towards Wednesday when North End travel to Gillingham for an FA Youth Cup fourth round tie.
“It’s a big game, which is what we look forward to,” stated Wallbank.
“Everyone needs to come back in on Monday with the right mindset.
“We know what we can do, we will train hard as a group to give us the best preparation possible.
“I’m confident that the team can bounce back and that we can go down to Gillingham and come back with a win.”