What Stuart McCall said on Preston North End's loss to Hull City, penalty decisions and relegation fear

Preston North End assistant Stuart McCall was left aggrieved by the first penalty given to Hull City in Monday’s 2-1 defeat.

The Lilywhites fell to successive league defeats, after throwing another lead away. Lewis Gibson scored his first goal to break the deadlock on 34 minutes. But, two Joe Gelhardt penalties in the second half saw the home side come from behind to win.

Stefan Thordarson was penalised for the second but McCall - who conducted post-match press duty after manager Paul Heckingbottom’s red card - was hugely frustrated by the decision given against Mads Frokjaer shortly after the restart.

“Performance wise, okay in the fact that we've come, controlled parts of the game, got a goal, hit them on the break a couple of times first half and didn't really make the most of it,” said McCall. “We defended quite well and we come out second half, and I've got to say I'm not biased, I'll be honest... when I see things, I'll be honest. I spoke to John Egan before the game... their decision they got at Swansea the other day was absolutely scandalous.

“Today, we've had a penalty given against us in the third minute of the second half. It's nowhere near a penalty kick... the boy's jumped himself into Mads' foot which is up going for the ball. I think the second one, although people might not see it, I think he gets it right. And I think he gets it right for, I don't think it's a penalty on Stefan either. But the big decision is the first penalty, which gives them all the momentum. The crowd get behind them, then two penalty kicks and as much as we huffed and puffed the second half - balls in the box, across the face, we just didn't create an opportunity to get us back in the game.”

“There’s no-one to blame but ourselves...”

PNE have now won one of their last 13 league games and sit three points above 22nd placed Luton Town, heading into next weekend’s match against bottom placed Plymouth Argyle - who are still scrapping away for survival. McCall knows the significance of that clash, now.

“Naturally, of course we are (worried) yeah,” said McCall. “We've got to make sure we come out against Plymouth and get the points that keep us safe. Without a doubt, we should nowhere be anywhere near in the position we are. But our poor results, as you say in the last 13 games, have put us where we are and there's no one to blame but ourselves about that.

“We’ve lost too many points in positions where we've been ahead. I think that's another one today. Far too many draws, without being clinical when we've been on top of sides. But the run, recently, has been disappointing. Poor, really, there's no getting away from it. Again, we're missing another two players today, Mads has come off with his hamstring, so at the minute we are down to the bare bones.

“But there's no excuse, we've got to go out there and make sure we put in a performance against Plymouth that gets us the result that we need to stay in the division... which sounds like a crazy thing to say, but that's the reality. They've got to stand up and be counted. At this moment in time, as you can imagine, the dressing room against QPR was low. But today, again, we've got ahead, can't manage to keep hold of victory and that's something we're going to have to have a real good look at.

“But listen, I don't think it was a lack of fight today. After the QPR game, we talked about mentality and desire and that's something we're going to have to, as I keep saying, look at. But yeah, the stats are there... you're ahead in six (of the last eight) games and you don't take a victory out of it, there's something not quite right. Everything's in the past now... we've just got to look and prepare fully for next Saturday.

“The focus fully now is to get the points to stay in the league, which disappoints me. It's depressing me to say that, but that is a true fact of where we are. Everyone needs to rally round and there can be no doom and gloom, as disappointed and as annoyed and angry as everyone is. Come next training session, we've got to come in and be bright and positive and focused and make sure we do the job that we're capable of doing.”

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