Alex Neil lifts the lid on Preston North End’s troubles in front of goal ahead of QPR visit

The Lilywhites have not scored in three of the last four games – the defeats to Millwall, West Bromwich Albion and Fulham.

They found the net twice when coming from behind to beat Hull City a fortnight ago.

It might prompt a re-jig of the frontline by PNE boss Alex Neil when QPR visit Deepdale on Saturday afternoon.

Against Fulham and West Bromwich, David Nugent played as the main striker, flanked by Tom Barkhuizen and Sean Maguire.

Jayden Stockley, Scott Sinclair and Josh Harrop came on as a substitutes in the Fulham game and provide alternatives across the front.

That was a second game in a row on the bench for Sinclair as he looks to find his feet in North End colours.

Bar a fine goal in the 1-1 draw with Swansea City on February 1, the January arrival from Celtic is yet to fire on all cylinders.

That is not too much of a surprise bearing in mind Sinclair arrived in Lancashire having played once in three months for Celtic.

Neil says Sinclair being on the bench recently has been for a couple reasons.

“The other lads, in terms of pressing, have been doing it for a considerable amount of time and know their jobs really well,” said Neil.

“A couple of times we found it difficult to get Scotty in the game so sometimes it doesn’t do any harm to give him a breather.

“He is not at his sharpest yet, there is still more to come from him.

“I think Scotty is still trying to figure us out in terms of playing within our system and we are still trying to look for a solution to get the most out of him.

“That will take a little bit of time , as it always does with new signings.”

North End being able to bring back a player of Sinclair’s calibre at some stage is not a bad situation to be in.

What they could do with against QPR is getting the first goal, something which has served them well throughout the season.

They had a four-match run in late January and early February of taking the lead, taking 10 points from a possible 12 against Barnsley, Swansea, Wigan and Stoke.

That sequence has given way to conceding the first goal four games running.

Said Neil: “When we have scored the first goal we haven’t lost for a long time.

“At Fulham we needed to score when we were on top in the first half.

“Against good teams like that you don’t get away with it if you miss chances – that is what happened last week.”