Ben still aiming for the play-offs despite Fulham loss

Centre-half Ben Davies felt Preston's defeat to Fulham was a setback in their play-off quest but not a mortal blow.
Ben DaviesBen Davies
Ben Davies

A great contest at Deepdale saw the Lilywhites more than match their visitors who are seen as the best footballing side in the Championship.

But Aleksandar Mitrovic’s injury-time header clinched the three points for Fulham.

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The Serbia international had earlier fired his side in front, only for Sean Maguire to level within seven minutes.

Certainly North End would have deserved a draw had they manage to hold out.

Davies was majestic at the heart of PNE’s back four and won the starman award from the match sponsors.

Reflecting on the game, he said: “We are where we are in the league for a reason, we have won plenty of games and are hard to beat.

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“We haven’t quite got to where we want to be yet but we need to be positive.

“There are nine games left and we have nothing to lose.

“We need to keep going and keep up the good work.

“This week we’ll have to pick ourselves up, go again at Sunderland which will be tough, then we have the break to re-charge.

“Hopefully we will come back stronger for the run-in and see what happens.

“Everyone is saying we have a good chance of doing something and with the time we have got left this season there is no reason why we can’t forge a real push.”

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Davies, 22, felt North End were worthy of a share of the spoils, if not more.

But Mitrovic’s double was their undoing, the on-loan Newcastle front man having now scored six goals against PNE in his last four games.

“I think we were the better team,” said Davies.

“We had a game plan and we stuck to it, but if you don’t concentrate for 90 minutes then that’s what good teams will do to you.

“We know we played well and we’ll take confidence from it. The manager comes up with a game plan every match and if we follow it, than often we come out with a result.

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“We followed it to a tee in this game but it didn’t quite happen for us.

“We have players who can go after teams, Fulham like to knock it about and we tried to get after them. It nearly worked, but not quite.”