Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe: A point is fair result – Millwall have changed the way they play
Ryan Lowe felt his side earned their point against Millwall this afternoon after they battled back from a goal down to share the spoils against Preston North End.
Zian Flemming put the hosts in front with his sixth goal against the Lillywhites in four appearances.
Preston found a first-half response as Brad Potts secured a point for Lowe’s side.
Millwall are unbeaten in their last 10 matches against North End.
“Definitely it was hard fought,” said Lowe. “A point is a fair result. Both teams tried to win it.
“The first 20 minutes of the first half was a little bit frustrating and after conceding the early goal we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
“I’m pleased with the reaction of the boys to get a goal back and we didn’t really want the first half to end as we were in the ascendancy – we had some good chances.
“We knew they’d come on strong in the second half. They brought the second striker on. When we had that bit of belief and bravery on the ball we opened them up a little bit. We got into some good areas but we couldn’t finish it off.”
Flemming converted a free header into the net from George Honeyman’s cross to give the Lions a fifth minute lead, Lowe admitted his side should have done better with it and kept a much closer eye on the Dutchman.
“You can’t give Flemming that type of space in the box,” he said. “The lads know, when the ball goes back we need to get up and we spoke about that. They are small margins that when the ball goes back we should push up and get them offside. It was a disappointing goal on our behalf.
“You have to give Millwall a lot of credit because they are trying to play a different way now and they’ve got some good players,
“Joe (Edwards) is trying to coach them in the right way. We had to withstand some pressure from them ,which you always have to do – not just from the team but from the fans too. You have to keep them quiet – we did that for large parts.
“We knew Cooper was a threat, so we doubled up on him a little bit to nullify his strengths. First and second phase you have to make sure you deal with players like Cooper because he’s a massive threat.”