Paul Heckingbottom livid after Preston North End 'totally bullied' in 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom admitted his side were ‘bullied’ in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth.

The Lilywhites, on their first trip to Fratton Park in almost 12 years, were two goals down at the break - with ex-PNE loan man Josh Murphy having broken the deadlock from distance. Defender Connor Ogilvie doubled the hosts’ advantage right before half-time.

Emil Riis restored some hope for the visitors, five minutes into the second half, as he prodded home from close range following a defence splitting Ryan Ledson pass. But, substitute Colby Bishop wrapped up the points late in the day, from the penalty spot.

Post-match, Heckingbottom said: “We were bullied. That could be your headline. We were just totally bullied in the first half. Of course, it’s surprising. It’s unacceptable. It’s surprising in the fact that we knew Portsmouth had changed how they play - a lot more direct over the last few games. But, they compete for second balls and put a lot of balls into the box. That had been our preparation and we looked like rabbits in headlights first half... totally one-sided.

“You saw the reaction in the second half, after shouting at them. Three changes, yes we changed shape slightly but we were bullied because were outrun, outfought, outcompeted. That was set-plays, balls into our box from the top end of the pitch and middle of the pitch. I felt (at 2-1) we were in it and then we tried to force it, with some more subs at the end. I felt we lost that momentum and that impetus. That first half probably explains to me a bit more why it has been eight months (since a league away win).

“Listen, in our time and with our performances, we should already have won away from home. So, it is not like it’s an issue in terms of we cannot do it. That first half performance showed a frailty. We had it similar at Millwall away and then we made changes and responded in the second half. But, when you are giving teams two goal leads, it’s really, really tough in this league. We have seen (Portsmouth’s directness) in more recent times and we spoke about how they would target this game.

“But, we targeted it and the team we picked was for that. The instructions were for that and that was our undoing... it was. Nothing pretty about it, but you’ve got to credit them. They imposed themselves from corners and bullied us. They put extra bodies in (for the two goals from corners). Alright, we didn’t have Liam (Lindsay) in there, but a lot of our clearances were poor first half. We slashed at things, didn’t get good distance on things and then it’s coming back in again.

“We had a real panic to us, which is not normally there. That was just one of the things... I could go on forever. At half time, there was not one player who could look round and dig anyone else out. It was a case of every player needing to look at themselves. We could not carry on like that. Macca was talking me out of doing it (making subs) for 20 minutes.

“You can smell what was coming and see it. There was a tactical element to the changes as well, with the shape. We had extra bodies in there, they had three central and we had four. But, we were still picking up seconds and we went with a narrow three and then a narrow three up top. It did help and it did work, but also yeah, just the message of needing to change personnel.

“All (the fans) want to see is a team compete like we did in the second half. You cannot be travelling hundreds of miles and enjoy seeing your team get outfought, like we did in the first half. You saw me hanging around after the final whistle for a bit longer than normal, because I certainly appreciate it. The game was done for me first half. I will keep using that word ‘bullied’ - I cannot think of a better word to describe that first half.”