Preston North End manager hails performance against Rotherham as one of the best of his reign

North End were dominant against the Millers but failed to find a breakthrough, despite creating plenty of good opportunities in the game.

The performance otherwise was of top quality, missing only a goal.

“That's probably one of the best performances I've seen in my managerial reign, without the goals obviously,” Lowe said.

"Everything we did we got spot on, we were fantastic. Ultimately goals win you games, I said to the group I like my teams to have between 15 and 20 chances on goal and that's certainly what they've been doing over the course of the season.

"We're not scoring at the minute but it's not for the lack of trying. We could have been sitting here with nine points or more, if that's the case then everyone is getting excited.

"We're all excited for what we're trying to do this season but it's not quite firing a the moment in terms of putting the ball in the back of the net.

"We need to continue creating the chances and eventually we're going to score.”

Lowe made one change to the side that beat Luton Town 1-0 the game before, Ali McCann dropping onto the bench in favour of Daniel Johnson.

There were frustrations amongst the fanbase to see the popular Northern Irishman amongst the subs but the PNE boss was looking for balance down the left side and backs all of his players to get plenty of game time.

He said: “We just felt that DJ would give us a bit of balance on the left side, with two no.10s. I'm mindful as well that Ali has played Tuesday, Saturday.

"It was for that little bit of freshness and balance down that left side - Ali has been excellent.

"We spoke to Ali and said we're making changes because we can, tactically.

"Sometimes it's disappointing when you're not playing but the attitude and application is there for all the group because they know they're going to play.

"Everyone in the squad is going to make plenty more appearances whether they're starting the game or finishing the game because you get five subs, is going to be important to us.”