Play-off pressure: Preston must learn to deal with expectation of top-six push

Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers was their fourth loss in five games.

With nine matches to go, it is a slide which needs to be arrested quickly if PNE want to make the play-offs.

Neil’s men led against QPR through Daniel Johnson’s penalty in the first half.

The visitors pulled level at the hour mark but scored their second and third goals with 10 men – Geoff Cameron having been red-carded.

Neil said: “We are going through a little bit of a difficult moment just now.

“When we were dominating games earlier in the season we would score first and push on from there.

“Just at the moment the expectation in the stadium is something the players aren’t used to and it is something we have to cope with better.

“Most of the squad, with one or two exceptions, haven’t been in this position before.

“I think coping with that pressure is equally or even more important than having the bravery to play.

“The pressure comes game by game because the expectation becomes more.

“The threat potentially of not being where you wan to be, becomes greater.

“Here the expectation is a lot more than it has been for a long time. Naturally that is because of how well the players have done.

“We have to take that expectation in our stride rather than let it hamper us.

“I think finer moments have worked against just recently.

“Look at Sean Maguire’s header in the second half, if that had been a couple of inches lower rather than hitting the bar, it changes the game completely.”

The QPR defeat ups the pressure on Saturday’s visit to Luton who have found some form of late at the other end of the table.

“You always look to win the next game,” said Neil.

“When you back at the QPR game, we have played miles worse than that and won.

“We were rubbish at Stoke and won 2-0, that is football at this level.

“At the moment we are going through a little bit of a slump.

“Saying that, I was happy with the first 45 minutes. We moved the ball well but didn’t take full advantage of our dominance which has been a theme recently.”

Brad Potts missed the game with an injury but Neil does not foresee a long absence.

“We got Brad a scan after he felt something in training but it shouldn’t be a long one,” said Neil.

“It would have been a risky one to play him against QPR.”