Saturday 23 January 2016 19:15, UK
Preston have to be more "ruthless" according to boss Simon Grayson after they were comfortably beaten 3-1 at Deepdale by Brentford.
Alan Judge and John Swift provided the decisive goals for the visitors, the former just before half-time, while the latter sealed things with 10 minutes to go.
But while his team were well-beaten, Grayson feels that it was Preston's inability to take their chances which was the real difference.
"I think when you look at it they've only had three shots on target and scored three goals," said Grayson. "Ultimately in the first half they were better with the ball, and if you allow a team like Brentford room, they're going to punish you.
"We're disappointed with the goals we gave away, but also ultimately we're disappointed we didn't cause them enough problems in the first half being the home side.
"Obviously in the second half we laid siege to the Brentford goal, and in the big moments of the game we didn't take our opportunities.
"Ultimately we've got to be more ruthless in the decisive part of the pitch, but you can't stop goalkeepers making great saves like that.
"We've all said that even with the run we've been on we're not going to shout about what we can achieve - we'll just work hard to see what results we can get."
Greg Cunningham's own goal had given the Bees the lead before Adam Reach levelled the game on 24 minutes.
Further goals from Judge and Swift ensured Brentford ended a run of four straight losses and cut the gap to the play-off places with the three points.
And boss Dean Smith felt they were on the wrong end of a poor call as Joe Garner escaped a red card late in the first half for an apparent swinging arm.
"The players have been in the Championship for a long time, some of them are new to it and are starting to get to know it, and they can look after themselves," said Smith.
"They know there are physical challenges you have to meet but the lads held their own.
"I thought Garner had swung his arm and caught Sam Saunders, and if he's seen that then it's a red card, so I find it strange that it becomes a yellow card given the nature of the incident.
"We had to weather that storm for 10 minutes (before the Swift goal), 10 minutes when we felt we could have shown a little bit more composure or slowed the game down a bit.
"There was a period that they got on top, but in the end, first half I thought we were really good and deserved to go in front.
"Overall I'm really pleased with the performance, it's just a 10-minute period we had where we just need to get a bit better in showing composure."
