Preston North End star pinpoints what players 'cannot let happen again' next season

Preston North End midfielder Duane Holmes says the Lilywhites’ season was lost over Autumn.

The Lilywhites were beaten 3-0 on the final day, by West Brom. It was North End’s fifth straight defeat, without scoring a goal. As disappointing as that has been, summer signing Holmes is rueing the run of results from September to December. Preston picked up 15 points from a possible 54, winning four, drawing three and losing 11 games.

“It’s not the way we wanted to finish the season,” said Holmes. “We conceded sloppy goals and I don’t think we really offered much going forward. It’s not just the last five games - the middle of the season cost us. We started off really well and got ourselves into a great position, then we had a sticky patch. We got out of that and still left ourselves with a chance of making the play-offs.

“After the Norwich game, realistically, we knew that wasn’t a possibility anymore. And obviously the results got worse from there. We absolutely know we need to be better in both boxes and I said in there, that the good thing about football is you always get another chance. We’ll regroup in the summer and we know we need to be better.

“We feel, with the group of players we have in this dressing room, we should’ve finished higher in the table. Unfortunately, we haven’t, but we’ll be excited to get back to work and try and put it right. I think, what we’ve got, is more than enough to be competing at the top end of the league. I think the group is full of quality and it’s just putting it together for 46 games.

“A lot will be made of the performances and results after Norwich, but I don’t think you can judge a season on that one game and say that’s where we missed out on the play-offs - because any team that makes the play-offs, cannot have the run we had in the middle of the season. Hopefully we come back better from that experience, because we cannot let it happen again.

And reflecting on his first season as a PNE player, Holmes said: “Fantastic. I think this place has helped me really enjoy the game again. I struggled for two years with injuries and performances and being in and out of the team - stuff like that. I think, coming into a place like this, with great people and great players, has really helped me enjoy it again.”