'Little bit unfair' - Ryan Lowe hopes Preston North End frustration can ease after Huddersfield Town win

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe knows the Lilywhites cannot get too comfortable after two improved results.

North End drew 0-0 at Norwich City last Saturday, before the 1-3 midweek win at Huddersfield Town. Preston were reeling from three consecutive league defeats, but have steadied things over the last 180 minutes of football.

PNE finished Tuesday night in seventh spot, with Watford up at Deepdale this weekend and a trip to Swansea following that. It's then Leeds United on Boxing Day and Sheffield Wednesday on the 29th - both at home - to close out the calendar year. Lowe was glad to pick up a much needed three points in Yorkshire, but didn't want to get ahead of himself at the same time.

"Are we?" laughed Lowe, regarding his team being in a good position. "Do you want to tell everyone else that? Again, we don't want to get too carried away. We are doing the right things. There are bumps in the road, up and down, as we know. We have just come out of a big bump. We lost those games, went away and drew, then came here. We felt the point on Saturday would look a lot, lot better if we could get three points. But now we have to go back to the drawing board, in terms of the game plan for Saturday, because that isn't going to be easy.

"But, one thing I do know is that those lads will give us everything and we've got to try and make sure we collect some points. I have always got belief in the players. It's small building blocks. We knew we had to go to Norwich, defend and be solid and resolute. We knew (vs Huddersfield) we'd have the ball and would be able to open some areas up. The lads will have a day of recovery, because they've been up and down the country. Then we'll put the game plan together for another tough encounter against Watford."

Lowe has been under his fair share of pressure in recent weeks, given the poor performances against Middlesbrough and Queens Park Rangers while recent form had been bottom of the league. North End's boss always backed his players to turn things around, but admits it's difficult to block out frustration from the outside.

"It's hard isn't it?" said Lowe. "Our criticism, sometimes, is a little bit unfair. But also, we cannot let the noise affect us. We have to just... at that training ground at Euxton it is just us against everyone else in certain areas. It's what we do inside that will make us get points and make us get fans singing for us. The away fans have been different class; there are a small amount of home fans who are disappointed at times. We get the disappointment; we don't get the anger and the slander. We definitely don't - we don't deserve it but in terms of us, we just have to get points on the board with performances like our last two. Then it sort of quickly changes."