Ryan Lowe’s verdict as Preston North End draw 1-1 with Millwall

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe was satisfied with his side’s 1-1 draw against Millwall on Saturday afternoon.

The Lilywhites returned to action after the international break and hit the front early doors through Mads Frokjaer. PNE had a couple of chances to double that advantage, but saw them go begging and Zian Flemming then drew Millwall level on the half-hour mark. The Dutchman, who scored a hat-trick at Deepdale last season, rocketed home from distance.

Preston’s boss made changes in the second half but the Lions - under the watch of caretaker boss Adam Barrett - defended responsibly and took a point back to The Den. North End didn’t quite do enough to nick all three points but, after losing three on the bounce prior to the break, Lowe reflected on the point positively.

“It was finding a way of getting points back on the board and that’s what we did,” said Lowe. “I thought we were fantastic for the first 15 or 20 minutes, then allowed them to get back into the game after a couple of mistakes. I think Greg and Ledo sort of slipped, Flemming then rolls and puts it into the top bin. He’s a good footballer and you can’t give him that time, as we know. Second half, we didn’t work the ‘keeper enough but got bodies on the pitch and brought five attacking players on to the pitch to try and help us. They gave us that impetus and Millwall were hanging on a little bit, but if you can’t win you don’t lose. It’s a good point, especially after the week we had. The lads took all the instructions on. If we can be a little bit better in our decision making and final ball or shot, we will be okay.

“We wanted the impetus of getting on the front foot and going again, but we huffed and puffed a little bit. It was a little bit flat (in the second half) - they came out and had an early half chance. We had one at the top end of the pitch in Keano and two tens, who were drifting a little bit. We got Milly on and put Mads in the ten, which pushed them back a bit. We were trying to go and win the game and pushed everything at it, we just didn’t have that final bit of quality or luck. After they scored, we sort of dropped off a bit, but Duano had a great chance to make it 2-0 and if he goes anywhere low he probably scores. He hit it that well, it just went down the keeper’s hands and he parried it away. If he made it 2-0 you could say it’s game over, but not in this league.

“Duano is getting in those positions and he drove really well. I thought him and Mads tired towards the end a bit, hence the changes, but they were fantastic. On another day he hits it hard and low and it rolls into the back of the net - no criticism from me, he got a shot on target. You can’t put crosses into the box against Millwall - they’ve got to be low, hard, picked out and pulled back. That is what we wanted. We planned to play short corners and then cross from a different angle, because they are big lads and they commit bodies to clear any ball out of their danger zone. I thought we were solid in most things and it was a 90 per cent performance in my eyes, if you like. If we’d had that extra 10 per cent, or bit of luck, we could’ve maybe won. It’s a point in the right direction.”

On Frokjaer’s opener - his third of the season in PNE colours - Lowe added: “Just calm, collected. And they are the positions we want him in. We spoke to him yesterday and the day before, about getting him into those areas. Keano did fantastically well - a little set, bang, finish through the legs and guided into the back of the net.”

Lowe made three changes from the Ipswich Town defeat, while the international trio of Alan Browne, Milutin Osmajic and Liam Millar all on the bench against the Lions. That was a straightforward decision in Lowe’s eyes.

“They were all on the bench for a reason really,” he said. “We’d worked with the group since last week and the game plan started last Friday for Millwall. We worked with them Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday. We only had Liam Millar back Tuesday from flying to Japan and his sleeping pattern was all over the place. Browney came into the building on Thursday and Milly only came in yesterday. We always knew they were going to feature from the bench, because we’d worked with the group beforehand.”