Alan Browne rues Preston North End not making most of perfect start to game

Sean Maguire had given PNE the lead inside the opening 90 seconds and the hosts were the better side in the first half.

The game turned on its head in the second period however as Mark McGuinness and James Collins’ goals secured the three points for the Welsh side.

Browne was not content being a goal up at the break and expected North End to raise their game, which did not happen, and their good start proved to be for nothing.

He said: “You don’t get anything for the first 45 minutes, it’s all well and good doing it for the first half but we need to up it again.

“We needed to up it again because I thought there was still more to come. We still weren’t out of second or third gear.

“I know we started well but that was due to them being so poor and we took advantage of that.

“We needed to step up and didn’t. We weren’t brave enough getting the ball from the back, indecision may have cost us throughout the game.

“It just wasn’t good enough from us, we resorted to going long from the back.

“That’s why we started dropping deep and trying to make some passes because anything that went up to our strikers, in fairness it isn’t their biggest strength.

“We needed a different route and we weren’t brave enough to do that.” 

Browne noticeably became a quarter-back of sorts towards the end of the game, occupying a deeper position and getting on the ball a lot.

It was of the skipper’s own design, not an instruction from head coach Frankie McAvoy.

But the change of tack could not help find an equaliser. He said: “We needed a different idea, I wasn’t told to play there. We were getting no joy, it kept coming back and it suited them.

“I wanted to get on it and try working it down the sides, they changed their formation and the wing-backs seemed to be the free man.

“I tried to change it up but we didn’t really create much.

“They sunk in and when teams do that it’s hard to break it down.”