Ryan Lowe rues slow start as Preston earn point at Hull

Preston boss Ryan Lowe admitted his side need to start faster after a goalless draw at Hull.

North End saw their frustrating winless run stretch to four games, while Hull made it six home games on the spin without defeat.

Lowe admitted: “I thought a point was fair. We nearly nicked it, but you can’t start games like we did in the first half.

“We had opportunities to win it but it’s a good point in the grand scheme of things, away from home, to build on the point in midweek (against Luton) with 10 men.

“Second half was more like a Championship game and it was two teams who were trying to get three points.

“First half was nowhere near the levels from both teams and the second half was much better.

“We could have given ourselves a few more opportunities to score in the first half. We gave ourselves a better chance to get the points in the second half.

“We will have a good week and look forward to the game against Wigan at Deepdale next weekend. It’s a bit of a local derby and the fans will be behind us. We’re looking forward to that.”

Hull squandered a number of chances to secure a welcome three points and were greeted with some boos from the crowd, but in the end Liam Rosenior’s side settled for a share of the spoils after their midweek defeat to Norwich.

He said: “I’m delighted because what I asked from the players was a positive reaction to what was, from a performance point of view, the first time and the only time since I’ve been at the club that we weren’t at the right level.

“Today we were and that’s really pleasing.

“I know it’s frustrating and we want to win games of football but you only win when you have a consistent level of performance.

“Some of our build-up from the back they couldn’t live with and on another day I think we win the game and we’re out of sight by half-time.

“I was surprised by the booing. We’ve got fans who pay their money, who come to watch games.

“I’ve spoken about how important togetherness is here and I’m surprised, I’ll be honest.

“I told everyone after the Norwich game we weren’t good enough, but we responded and today we were.

“We weren’t clinical in the first half. We were so much in the ascendency. We could have been 3-0 up and that’s the frustration.

“Unfortunately we didn’t have that final moment and that’s frustrating because we had 80 or 90 per cent of our game today.”