Henrik Pedersen reflected on both his pride and disappointment in Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat to Preston at Hillsborough this afternoon.

The head coach said: “It was a tough loss because I thought we deserved a lot more today. The boys delivered a really good performance.

“Big, big respect for how we played in the first half. We could have been two or three up and it is the strongest first half we have played this season. We were strong on the ball, strong in pressing and there were so many good performances.

“It was very painful in the second half. One minute we could score a penalty and minutes later they scored on a set piece.

“It is painful that we are not winning but there are so many good things in this performance.”

Pedersen also spoke of how we only conceded one goal from set pieces in five games but have now been punished with four set pieces going in our own net in the last two matches. He was disappointed with this, adding: “To give this away today … I am proud but also have a very disappointed feeling.”

On the penalty miss, Pedersen said Charlie McNeill took the responsibility to take the kick and on team selection explained that Max Lowe was injured while Liam Cooper and Nathan Redmond were only fit enough to play 15-20 minutes apiece.