'No, never!' - Ryan Lowe dismisses Preston North End 'tactic' after late Ipswich Town drama

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe insists it is never an instruction for his team to drop back and defend late on in games.

The Lilywhites got over the line against high flying Ipswich Town last weekend, but the closing stages were far from comfortable. North End went in 3-0 up at half time, only for substitute Kieffer Moore to score twice in the second half and set up a nervy finish to the game.

Preston have been on the receiving end of some horrible, late blows this campaign. Swansea City, Leeds United, Cardiff City and Southampton have all taken points off North End right at the death. Lowe was relieved and proud to see PNE get the job done last time out, but he will be looking to avoid those nail biting finishes for the remainder of the season.

"I was pleased with how the lads regrouped after those goals and kept it together, to not concede another one - which would've been a kick in the teeth," said Lowe. "When you come up against quality players, you are going to have to withstand that pressure and that's what we did. Was it needed? Could we have done a bit better up the pitch and stopped (Sam) Morsy potentially getting on the ball? Yeah, but sometimes you just sink naturally - and try to defend what you've got. It wasn't that the plan was to just sink and stay deep; we just couldn't get out because they had so much domination of the ball. But, on the flip side, it was good to withstand that pressure."

When asked if he ever tells his team to drop back, Lowe laughed: "No, never! But, I have to respect the players and what they do on the pitch, as well; I am not on the pitch. We took Mads (Frokjaer) off and pushed Browney up one, to go into the ten. But, ultimately they were that demanding and calm and composed on the ball, Ipswich, that we couldn't really get near them. The full backs were bombing on, one of the centre-halves was joining in and the four was dictating the ball. So, at some point they are going to have to; they are good and they trust each other in that mid-block and low-block.

"I have got no complaints over it. We don't want to do it all the time, because we want to get up the pitch and if we do - there are some moments, when strikers could've got hold of the ball. We want to keep playing high up the pitch, progressing and having an attacking impetus. But, up against good teams you've just got to make sure you keep the ball - and work the ball side-to-side. So, we did drop a little bit deeper and we didn't want to do that. Unfortunately we did, because the lads felt a bit of pressure and that is fine.

"I am open to that, if they feel good on the pitch and that this is the best thing - rather than jumping out of the slots and getting popped round. We don't intent to just sit in and drop in, it's just that when you come up against good teams that's sometimes the natural thing to do. And that is not just at our level or our team. When they drop into that mid-block and low-block, I know they can deal with it."