Ryan Lowe believes the point his Preston side gained in a 0-0 draw against Watford at Vicarage Road could still be a valuable one in securing a Sky Bet Championship play-off spot.
Lowe said: “We got a valuable point which hopefully will help us but I thought we did enough to win the game.
“At this stage of the season you need three points. We came here to win and had some great chances but we just didn’t have that clinical edge at the top edge of the pitch today.
“We had to make it a bit dogged because Watford have got some Premier League quality players. We had a goal threat, but just couldn’t put it in the back of the net.
“It’s been difficult all season, it’s not just now. All we have tried to do is stay in the top half of the division as long as we can.”
Lowe had a word of sympathy for central defender Richard Hughes, who missed Preston’s most glaring opportunity just before half-time when he skewed his shot so badly it almost went out for a throw-in.
Lowe added: “I’ve seen him score them in training, but in fairness he’s the left-sided centre-half and we have players who are more capable of putting the ball in the back of the net than he is. He was in the right area and on another day he would put it in.
“We had a discussion about it as we were coming off the pitch. He said: ‘I’ll be thinking about that chance.’ I don’t want that, though, because you can’t turn the clock back, can you?”
While Lowe and Preston continue to eye the play-offs with home fixtures to come this week against Huddersfield and Norwich – the club currently occupying the final play-off position – he is aware that other, larger Championship clubs are still involved in the relegation battle.
He explained: “It says a lot about where the club is that we are still looking up. For us, Preston North End, to still be in the mix with six games to try and get in the play-offs is a massive achievement.
“We’ve got two massive games coming up this week. And we’ve got an opportunity to get six points because we’re playing at home.”
For Watford, whose four-match unbeaten run under interim manager Tom Cleverley now appears to have secured their Championship status, it is all about next season.
He has impressed since taking over from Valerien Ismael but is mindful that Watford’s winless run at Vicarage Road now stretches to 11 league games.
Cleverley said: “No, I don’t take the result in the end. It’s not where I want us to be. That’s the honest answer.
“I would much rather three wins and one defeat than what we’ve got in these four games.
“We have to try and find the balance of going for the winner and not risking the loss.
“Maybe we were a bit conservative today. It’s about finding that balance in the team.
“I was a bit concerned thought we lacked that little bit of killer edge around the box. But the game just never really got any rhythm and we just could not sustain the pressure on them.
“We just didn’t have the answers to break them down so we will analyse that. It’s not a question of quality if you look at the players we had out there.
“It’s a question of mentality to keep banging on that door and having that ruthless edge. We have to make it happen because we still didn’t get that first home win of the year.
“The one thing I have felt is that the belief (is) coming back. We’re fearless now.”
Cleverley admitted that, although he feels comfortable in the dugout, becoming a manager was not in his thoughts when he first arrived at Watford as a teenager on loan from Manchester United.
He added: “Yes, I feel comfortable. I’ve got a lot of belief in myself.
“It’s not something that was on the horizon until I came back to the club as a 27-year-old, when I thought I had a role to play in developing and helping players.”
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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