Preston North End manager admits Vincent Kompany's Burnley were bigger tactical test than Tottenham Hotspur

North End were beaten 3-0 by the league leaders, Nathan Tella netting all three, as the Clarets were the dominant side all afternoon.

Vincent Kompany’s men have a very distinct style of play, one focused heavily on possession and attacking football, which they have the quality to execute.

Lowe discussed the difficulties he had tactically and said it was a day that they had to be on it, which they weren’t.

"It was probably one of the biggest challenges that I've had as a manager, even down to playing Tottenham the other week, where we knew what they were going to do,” Lowe said.

"The interchange of the front four for Burnley are all very good. What I will say is they're all top players who are probably too good for the Championship. It was tough. I thought we dealt with the interchange a little bit quite well and they didn't really open us up, but knowing where they are and when they are, and the 'keeper is like another centre half when he's coming out, do you press him or do they pass around you?

"They're obviously so brave on the ball and if you get it right there are opportunities. You've seen teams that play Burnley take the ball off them in the 18 yard box and score, was there an opportunity for us to try and do that? Yes. Was the press right? No.

"It was a tactical nous day and you had to make sure you were on it and the players needed to be as well. Unfortunately, we weren't.”

Lowe stuck with the same system throughout the game whilst Burnley were controlling the match but he was reluctant to come away from his usual system.

He also felt that fortune didn’t quite favour his side on the day.

He said: “You can go away from what you're doing and put round pegs in square holes but that's not what you want to be doing. You're asking people to do things that they're not normally good at doing.

"Sometimes you can consolidate and be compact and we wanted them to go around us rather than through us but we have to say they're a good team, they're well coached and they're flying high in the league.

"You have to try and hang in there and hope that something drops for you but nothing dropped for us defending or attacking today.”