Ryan Lowe hopes Preston fans will rediscover their love for the team
Ryan Lowe hopes Preston fans will rediscover their love for the team following a backs-to-the-wall 1-1 draw with Luton on Wednesday.
North End salvaged a point against the Championship’s fourth-placed side despite going down to 10 men following Ben Whiteman’s 50th-minute dismissal and trailing to Carlton Morris’ strike 23 minutes later.
Troy Parrott rifled home from the spot with nine minutes remaining to draw a line under a stretch of five straight home defeats.
And the home supporters, who grew audibly frustrated with their team at various junctures, were noticeably happier at full-time.
“The fans were excellent,” said Lowe. “I look at me and the fans, and the players and the fans and it’s like you stayed out on a bender all weekend and the missus isn’t happy with you.
“We will get that love back. It was Valentine’s Day yesterday.
“Hopefully we sent them home happier tonight and the loving starts coming back.
“We believe we can win games and score goals and keep clean sheets.
“It’s not been the case of late, but I have ultimate faith in the group that we can start turning losses into wins or draws, which we’ve done tonight.
“We have to build on it and go again, the fight and spirit and togetherness were different class.”
On midfielder Whiteman, who saw red for an ugly challenge on Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Lowe added: “The fans want tackles and want us on the front foot and aggressive and getting around people.
“I said to the boys at half-time we need to be on the front foot more and get at them. We did and unfortunately for Ben he got a red card.
“I am not going to stop him tackling like that, but it has to be fair, of course.”
Luton extended their undefeated away run to a fifth match and have claimed 20 points from Rob Edwards’ opening 10 matches after he replaced Nathan Jones back in November.
But there was frustration at the failure to put Preston away when the visitors boasted a one-goal and one-man advantage.
“We had enough chances to win a couple of games, if we are brutal and honest,” said Edwards, whose team are four points ahead of Millwall who sit just outside the play-off spots.
“But we have to look at the positives, we are creating big chances. In my opinion, we should have won the game.
“We are five unbeaten and the only two goals we’ve conceded in the past five games were penalties.
“I know Preston are in a difficult moment but it was never going to be easy going away from home after a difficult away game (at Coventry) on Saturday.
“We are looking a threat and are very solid defensively, so we will go again against Burnley on Saturday.”