Ryan Lowe 'hurting' as Preston North End aim crystal clear for Leicester City and West Brom

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe is wary of the negative impact a poor finish to the season will have around Deepdale.

The Lilywhites have slipped out of the play-off picture, with two wins, one draw and four defeats since returning to action after the international break. North End have lost three on the bounce, without scoring in the games against QPR, Southampton and Norwich City.

It is not the end to the campaign anyone wanted, with PNE hit hard by injuries in the midfield department and dropping down to 10th spot. Title chasing Leicester City and play-off certs, West Brom, are the final two games for North End. Lowe knows that this final stretch is what will be taken into a long summer, with season tickets to sell and new players to sign.

“You do,” said Lowe. “It just drags on for ages, yeah, because you are always hurting. Well, I am - this drags on now. We haven’t got a game now until a week on Monday; I know the rest will do us the world of good, in terms of not playing. But, ideally, I’d love a game in the next four or five days if we could. You want to get it out of your system. But, I trust the players. They are a good group of lads. I know I’m being a bit harsh on them at the moment, individually and collectively. But, they are my team, my responsibility - we will pick them up and hopefully put a performance in for the next two games, worthy of wearing the shirt.”

On whether recent performances could be a hangover from missing out on the play-offs, Lowe told BBC Lancashire: “Maybe. We will debrief it with the lads and have some chats. We will find out; I don’t know. There is always something in the back of your mind... ifs and buts. You cannot dwell on that. You’ve got to go to the next game.

“After the Norwich game, okay we fell short of where we want to get to. But, we haven’t fallen short of the points target. There was a real good opportunity to finish in the top ten, probably more... seven, eight, nine. It was a real opportunity for us to see progression and see what we are doing, but for 30 minutes of the Southampton game it wasn’t us and most of the (QPR) game wasn’t us.”