Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe bemoans individual errors and lack of attacking in defeat to Burnley

Nathan Tella opened the scoring in the first half with a free header inside the North End box before he doubled his and Burnley’s tally in the second half, cutting inside onto his left foot to fire into the bottom corner.

The Southampton loanee sealed his hat-trick just a couple of minutes later as he found the back of the net from the edge of the box.

The home side were the better side on the day and North End finished the match with just 30 per cent possession.

Lowe was disappointed by the performance of his side and felt they undid their own hard work.

He said: "We lost the game, so it wasn't good. I thought Burnley were fantastic in what they were doing but for us, we defended well, were solid and resolute at times because we had to be, gave the ball away too many times. To be done by the goals that we conceded was hard to take. Burnley have opened teams up this season and had some quality goals, they look at them on their behalf as good goals but from ours we could have been better.

“It gets to a point, you don't like losing games of football, especially derbies. Unfortunately I have to say that Burnley were the better team and deserved the three points. For us, we have to do a bit better, individually and collectively.

"You're back to losing games of football and not performing at the level that we know we can but ultimately the goals come down to individual errors, people not doing their jobs properly - and that's when it becomes a problem. That's where the disappointment is and we need to change that quickly.”

Preston registered two shots on target in the game as Burnley, at times, toyed with the visitors in East Lancashire.

It is another defeat in a local derby for PNE, winning one of four so far this season. Lowe knows the importance of the clashes with local sides and was frustrated with a lack of attacking intent from his side.

He said: “As Preston North End manager it is hard to say but I have to give credit where credit is due, they're a fantastic outfit, they have some fantastic players and that's the level. I thought we defended solidly and resolutely at times, we didn't go forward enough with the ball when there were opportunities.

"There were times where we could have turned them and played in their half, we knew they'd be playing risky football with the 'keeper and when to jump and when not to. You only have to look at the goals, second phase from a corner and Tella is there to put it in when we lose our man.

"The others are two kicks up the pitch, Burnley are not associated with boom ball up the pitch but the first one we could have dealt with better and the second one we come out of a 2v1 in our favour without the ball and he puts it in at the near post. The two goals we conceded were disappointing when we defended decently.”