Preston North End captain Alan Browne's scathing assessment of 'boring' and 'embarrassing' form after Sheffield United defeat

Despite being the better side in the first half, a defensive error led to Iliam Ndiaye giving the Blades the lead four minutes before half time.

They grabbed another around the hour as another defensive mistake allowed Oli Mcburnie to tap in from close range.

It is not the first time this season that North End’s play has not been rewarded with goals, in most games this season it has been the case. PNE are yet to score when on top in a game, their goal against Luton Town coming a bit against the run of play, their goal against Coventry City game as the game was quite open and their goal against Burnley from a set piece after the visitors has just scored themselves.

The North End skipper is not one to mince his words and gave a tough assessment of his team.

He said: “It's the same old story, it's probably getting boring now, well at least in my opinion. I thought we did well and had some decent chances but the lack of goals is letting us down time and time again, it's obvious for anyone to see that.

“We're not getting battered by anyone, Cardiff away was our worst performance but other than that we've probably dominated most games, we dominated large portions of the game on Saturday and just can't score.

"We need to find a solution and find it quick, although we're not in a really bad position, our clean sheets have kept us in a half decent position the sooner we find goals the better because we're slowly dropping down the league.”

PNE go into the international break in 15th, and no other side in Championship history has scored fewer goals than North End have in their opening 10 games, netting three times.

Browne feels that goals can come from anywhere, be it the midfield, the strikers or even the defenders from set pieces although he does acknowledge that it’s the midfield and forwards who should be the ones finding the net the most.

The skipper feels the more advanced players a letting down the defenders after their exceptional and historic start to the season, where they kept seven straight clean sheets.

He said: “It's getting embarrassing now, for the quality throughout our team and the size of our team as well. It's not just midfielders and strikers, I think our defenders are well capable of scoring from set pieces.

"Ultimately it's the attacking side of the team, the midfielders and strikers, that are letting the back five down. They've been fantastic.

"There were a couple of sloppy goals on Saturday and the one against Birmingham was a mistake but other than that no one has really carved us open, played through us or dominated us. We've lost games through our own fault.

"For us to let the back five down time and time again, they must be getting fed up with us. I just can't put my finger on why the ball won't find the back of the net.”