Preston North End showed too much respect to Ipswich Town according to boss Ryan Lowe

Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe has said his side showed too much respect to Ipswich Town in their all-Championship pre-season friendly at Deepdale. The Lilywhites were beaten 2-1 by Kieran McKenna’s side.

The host fell behind when the Tractor Boys’ attacker Conor Chaplin scored in the first-half. The visitors then doubled their lead in the second-half through striker George Hirst.

Preston were able to pull a goal back through 16-year-old Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile. However, they weren’t able to find an equaliser.

It is no secret that friendlies are mainly about getting players back up to speed and boosting fitness levels. You need to get into good habits though and Lowe wasn’t too pleased with the result against Ipswich.

Speaking afterwards, he told the club website: “First half I don’t think we were anywhere near. They were obviously good in terms of moving the ball, but I thought we showed them a little bit too much respect. We didn’t get about them as much [as I’d have liked] and they controlled large parts of possession.

“They’re a good team and they do that, but we didn’t get in their faces enough and press them at the right times. I’m disappointed with the goal. It’s a big switch of play, a great touch from the lad and then a little pull back for a good finish, but we need to deal with that so that’s disappointing but it’s somewhere we can learn.”

He added: “In the second half I thought we had a little bit more impetus. We told the lads we needed a bit more aggression in the press and we did. We got a bit of energy on with the kids as well. No one likes getting beat of course, but I think it’s a good test for us.

“I think today was a different type of test of what we’ll face against good teams and we’ve got to be a lot better, and I stressed that to the players in there.”

Preston are back in action this weekend at home again against Aberdeen. The Scottish Premiership side make the trip down to England on the back of a 2-0 win against Fraserburgh last time out.