Preston North End's post International break form is just a coincidence according to Alan Browne

Preston have won just two games in the last three years following international breaks, drawing four and losing five.

Browne played the full 90 against Derby after having featured in both of Republic of Ireland’s games over the break.

The 1-0 loss to Derby County meant North End dropped one place to third and the Irishman was frank in his assessment of proceedings.

He said: “We don’t go away and take the mick.

“We go away, we take the rest that you need to rest up and we try to be as prepared as we can.

“It’s just a bit of a coincidence that we don’t find ourselves with the right results afterwards.

“We usually bounce back straight away so hopefully we can do that.

“We’re massively disappointed, more in the performance than anything else. It’s as bad as we’ve been all season.

“That or Blackburn first half, they’re two of our worst performances so far.

“We’ll take any positives we can out of it and look to bounce back as soon as possible.

“Luckily for us, games come quick in this league.”

“We wanted to win today but it wasn’t to be.

“We didn’t deserve it.

“Hopefully we can put in a much better performance at Hull.

“It’d be massive.”

The game was decided on a set piece, Martyn Waghorn turning the ball home following a Tom Lawrence corner.

PNE had a goal of their own from a set piece, Tom Barkhuizen finding the net; but the goal was ruled out for offside.

There were questions asked of the decision and referee Tim Robinson admitted that even he wasn’t convinced.

“The referee said to us that he’d have to have a look at it after because he wasn’t sure,” Browne explained.

“The linesman gave it. It was Davo’s (Ben Davies’) shot.

“I don’t know how missed it but he’s not a striker so we can’t think about it too much.

“You just need to take chances like that.

“Bringing another striker on might have freshened things up, up top, maybe changed the game, maybe not, who knows.

“It’s disappointing to see him go off and hopefully he’ll be alright.

“For all the possession we had second half, we didn’t penetrate enough.

“We didn’t get in at goal or create any clear cut chances. It was more keeping it ticking over, switching the play.

“We never looked like hurting them. We definitely got what we deserved.

“We usually try to blow teams away right from the start but today we were right off it. “Definitely in that first half, I know it picked up in the second but it wasn’t our usual performance.

“They’ve performed better on the night and deserved the three points.

Browne started the day as skipper in the no.10 role and ended the game at right back, but that’s now a position that he feels comfortable in.

“I can slot in there nicely, Darnell was on a booking and his game is quite aggressive.

“The gaffer made that change, didn’t want to make the risk.

“He brought Gally and Billy on and to be fair I think they did well, we just didn’t get ourselves into the right area to get a goal.”