'Let's be honest' - Preston North End star vents frustration after derby defeat at Blackburn Rovers

Preston North End midfielder Ali McCann felt the Lilywhites were worthy of a point against Blackburn Rovers on Friday night.

The Lilywhites fell to a 2-1 defeat at Ewood Park with Makhtar Gueye and Todd Cantwell on the score sheet for the home side. Brad Potts pulled one back in the 93rd minute and then had a strong penalty appeal waved away in the final seconds.

That was a huge source of frustration for McCann but the Northern Ireland international admitted PNE were far from at their best on the night too. Despite a disappointing showing, first half in particular, the number eight thought the second half effort ought to have seen a share of the spoils.

“Frustrated is probably the word,” said McCann. “We weren’t at our best, particularly first half, but second half we came out fighting. I mean, what can you say after that? We are just gutted to come out with nothing. I just don't think we were at it. We didn't play our normal stuff first half... didn't quite get up against the ball well enough and we gave them too easy outs.

“We probably deserved to be 1-0 down but second half we were much better and let's be honest, it's a dodgy penalty. I am not not one to harp on about refs or anything but we've come on the wrong side of a few dodgy decisions today maybe. Close decisions, I would say. He said Jack's headed him after he's headed the ball but he's not even looking at it.

“If you give that then I think you've got to give the Pottsy one at the end, to be honest. It's one of those things... we weren't good enough to probably win the game but I think we definitely deserved a point at the end. I don't think it'll affect the games going forward. It's just one of those emotional games as it is, being a local derby.

“And then that compounded towards the end. It got a bit hectic the last five or ten minutes. I think when you go two down for the last 20 minutes you're always scrambling to try and get back into it. We gave it a good go. We had a few half-chances, openings, where we could have nicked one here and there. We do get the goal and there was pressure in the last five minutes or so.”

“We’re just really frustrated.”

McCann added: “But we put ourselves in a difficult position and didn't quite manage to overturn it in the end. I think we know in ourselves that first half we weren't quite, in terms of energy and intensity, at it. And on top of that, we didn't quite play as slick football as we have, particularly the last couple of weeks. We're just really frustrated with the way it's panned out but we can't dwell on it too much.

“We've got a busy run coming up so we'll just look forward to that. We'll dress it down, we'll have a look on Monday and then go again with the Cup next week. And then we've got loads of games after that, so there's plenty of opportunity to pick up some points. The fans were unreal, they packed out that end. I'm just gutted that we couldn't give them something to go home cheering about at the end.”