Preston North End's squad will still get holiday time following the woeful defeat at Luton

The Lilywhites were beaten 4-0 at Kenilworth Road, their heaviest defeat since April last year.

It was a dreadful performance heading into a 17-day gap in their fixture list.

With such a long break, Lowe will give the squad some time away from the training ground in the coming days before re-grouping to prepare for the visit to Derby County on April 2.

Lowe said: “I’m not going to change the schedule, they will definitely have some time off with their families.

"Sometimes that is what you need, for myself, Mike Marsh and the coaching staff it has been relentless for three months

"I certainly need a little break away from football with my family and kids, that is what you need to drive you to the next one.

"We will give them a bit of time off but we will certainly have a good build-up to the Derby County game and make sure we get the work in them.

“What we have to do is make sure we put a performance in which these Preston North End fans can be proud of again.”

It won’t be holiday time for all the squad, with some of them off on international duty next week.

Daniel Iversen, Sepp van den Berg and Ali McCann have been called up by their countries, with Alan Browne possibly joining those going away.

Northern Ireland international McCann had to be substituted at half-time against Luton. He got a bang in the face in the first half and was treated for a nose bleed.

The medical staff found it difficult to stop the bleeding and the decision was made to sub him.

Lowe intends that last night’s defeat and the manner of it will be a one-off. It was only the third Championship defeat PNE had suffered since Lowe was appointed manager in December.

They fell behind in the ninth minute, with Luton 3-0 up by half-time. An own goal from Bambo Diaby completed the scoring before the hour.

Lowe said: "Are they allowed one of those games every now and then? I don’t want to allow it but unfortunately it can happen.

"They are human beings, they are good lads but it wasn’t us out there.

"I have learned a lot about the group since I came in and here I learned that if we come to a stadium like this again, do I play different personnel?

"There are loads of things that go through my mind but what I don’t want to come away from is my three-and-a-half, nearly four years being a manager and the success I’ve have, the philosophy and style of play I want.

"These nights you have as a manager, they are tough nights, I’ll be up to all hours trying to figure out where it went wrong.

"Ultimately it went wrong because we weren’t on it and Luton Town where.”

Luton Town 4 PNE 0 – player ratings