Steve Spooner looking at Birmingham City issues after Preston North End defeat

Patrick Bauer put PNE ahead in the first half, turning home a Paul Gallagher corner after a period of pressure - despite a decent opening from the visitors.

Brad Potts sealed the win with just minutes to go in the game, bursting forward to get onto the end of a long ball forward that the Blues' defence failed to deal with to fire into the bottom right corner.

Spooner cut a frustrated figure after the game and rued missed opportunities for his side, who forced a couple of excellent saves from Declan Rudd.

He said: "Sometimes when you need them massively they don't always go for you. It goes way beyond this, it goes way beyond this one game. I

"'m bitterly disappointed. I'm fed up of going over the same old things, it's only the third game I've been involved in and it's already the same old rhetoric.

"If you look at it you probably think 'is there any planning and detail that goes into it?' But believe me, there is.

"What you can't be responsible for is players reactions during the game. We worked on them for two days meticulously in build up to the game and you come out there and that happens.

"This has been a symptom that has happened far too often for too long."

Birmingham are just two points above the drop going into the final game of the campaign.

On this occasion, Spooner wanted his side to hold on until half time but their undoing at a set piece cost them of that.

"They had a lot of the ball and they moved people around, they had one or two chances and I thought we'd set them up well and nullified them to a certain extent.

"They can't be that bad a team where they are in the league, they've been challenging for the play-offs.

"Most respectfully, I'm not too bothered about them, it's what we're going to do and I'm looking at our performance.

"Up until the first goal, we were moderately pleased with it. If you can get in at half time with a 0-0, you give yourself a real base to build on."