Ryan Lowe’s Preston North End continued their dreadful April form as they handed Queens Park Rangers a 1-0 win thanks to a calamitous error from Freddie Woodman.
The win almost guarantees QPR safety and any relegation struggler must relish the chance to play Preston at this stage of the season.
Amateur performance from Woodman
Freddie Woodman has been one of the more reliable players in the Preston team this season. He did go through a sticky patch before Christmas and was dropped for the game against Swansea City. But the second half of the season has seen his confidence rise and more clean sheets kept.
But on Saturday it was as if he was allergic to the ball. He dropped the easiest of crosses for the goal, giving Lyndon Dykes the chance to score his first in 15 games. Shortly afterwards he fumbled again and was lucky not to concede. In the second half he was nowhere near a cross and fell over. To top it off his kicking was wayward, but we are used to that.
It was one of the worst goalkeeping performances in a Preston shirt for some time., coming close to Connor Ripley at home to Norwich City and Michael Crowe at home to Doncaster Rovers, both in the FA Cup.
What was the point in starting Woodburn?
Before Saturday Ben Woodburn had played just 169 minutes in the league this season. They were all off the bench. He hadn’t made the last two squads at all, and his contract is up in the summer. There was no reason to start him. To play so little over the course of the season shows he’s clearly not in Lowe’s plans. Was this some sort of testimonial for him?
Predictably Woodburn was way off the pace, apart from a nice cut back for Liam Millar in the first half. Lowe says he wants to get as many points as possible this season, the starting lineup showed he’s obviously already given up.
If he is to play around with the team at least start players who are likely to be here next summer, or give some younger players a chance.
Millar chance wasted but nothing else created
Liam Millar had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring in the first half. A nice one-two with Woodburn and all he had to do was place it in the corner, but he hit it straight at Asmir Begovic. QPR scored shortly after that, and after Preston would only have one more shot on target in the whole game.
The Hoops are battling for their lives but it was them who looked the more likely to score the second. This Preston team really struggle to create chances. Will Keane yet again failed to be involved in anything. It was down to Millar to try and create anything but he must be frustrated when none of the other players are on his level.
Two losses against perennial strugglers QPR
We lost 2-0 at home to QPR on a cold December night at Deepdale, and one goal was enough for another win for them at Loftus Road. QPR always seem to be battling against the drop but Preston have made it easy for them to pick up six points which will keep them up.
Two wins for Preston in those games and they would be 7th still playing for something. Too many games have been lost against the lower teams this season. Home defeats to Stoke City and Sheffield Wednesday, a recent loss to Birmingham City too. Every team can have games they would look back on with regret, but those aforementioned ones are particularly poor.
4 points in the last 6, no goals in 5 of those
We are used to it now, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Consistently being in a decent position for the final run of eight games or so, and consistently running out of steam, and not being bothered to turn up for some games.
Lowe claimed we were making progress after the Huddersfield Town win as with five games left we had matched last season’s points tally. Well it’s not progress if you don’t pick up another point, and that is increasingly looking likely.
Only an eternal optimist could see North End getting anything from the Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion games. If as expected those are two more losses, then five defeats in a row and four points from the final eight games is a pathetic way to end the season. There’s no progress, just a continuation of Lowe struggling to get the best out of this squad.
All the good results from January to March gave a good feeling heading into the home stretch but all that work has been undone and fans are once again questioning whether Preston can ever progress under Lowe.
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