Boss Jim Magilton was pleased with the Blues' overall performance at Preston, but was disappointed that his side gave away three soft goals. The Town manager had no complaints regarding Preston's early penalty for Alex Bruce's foul on Stephen Elliott.

Magilton said: "A lot of our play was excellent. We just can't give away soft goals. Preston didn't have to work very hard for their goals.

"We looked like a side which was trying to get something out of the game. Our overall application and attitude was first class. We are going to have to continue that.

"When you score two goals away from home you probably expect to get something from the game and I thought we did enough to have got at least a point.

"Our level of intensity last week was such that we would not have conceded those goals. From the first goal to the last, there were poor defensive errors. Yet in between I thought we were very good at times.

"We had one or two opportunities. I would have like to have seen a little bit more from the front two.

"I think we were a little bit hit and miss. On another day Kevin Lisbie could have had a hat-trick."

Magilton said Bruce was guilty of the "cardinal sin" of allowing the opposition striker to get beyond him in the incident which led to the early spotkick: "I had no complaints over the penalty at the start. Alex got caught on the wrong side, but it kickstarted us and we got a terrific goal from Tommy and I thought we played some good stuff.

"Then we gift them a second goal from a punt downfield before half-time and on the third goal, people didn't do their jobs from a corner.

"Tommy's got another wonderful goal and we had enough chances to have got level at least.

"It's very frustrating because there were a lot of positives to take from the game, but we have come away with nothing to show.

Magilton suggested that Miller must be hate figure at Deepdale having now netted 10 goals against his former loan club during his career (seven for Town, three for Hartlepool).

Lilywhites boss Alan Irvine felt his side were much better than they were a week ago when they lost 3-1 to Southampton: "This was a vast improvement. We talked during the week about getting back to basics. The training has been geared around that.

"We wanted to make sure we got back to doing the things you must do to compete in this division.

"A lot of harsh words were spoken last week and this was a fantastic reaction against Ipswich by the players.

"I am delighted to be back in the fourth spot. The Championship for me has been summed up today. If you have a look down the results it tells you all you need to know about the teams in this division. Everyone can beat everyone else.

"If you approach the game right and your organisation is right, you have a chance of winning. If you are just missing an edge, you will lose.

"I didn't think that we had done enough at 3-1 to win the game. But we had got ourselves a bit of breathing space.

"I thought that Kevin Lisbie was offside for one of the Ipswich goals. I felt we could easily have been given a freekick ourselves because Lisbie pushed Eddie Nolan over and then fell over him as he went down."

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