Boss Roy Keane slammed the defending which led to Preston’s first goal during the Blues’ 2-0 defeat at Deepdale and continues to be frustrated by his side’s own lack of goals.

Keane said: "From our point of view the first goal came from unbelievably bad defending. We don't score enough goals so we are putting ourselves under pressure all the time.

"We had our chances again and didn't take them and that's very disappointing.

"We looked fairly comfortable but we lacked a cutting edge and it looks as though we have to play unbelievably well to score one or two goals.

"When you are only scoring the odd goal, you are always going to be under pressure because at some stage, the opposition are going to create their own chances.

"We're looking over our shoulder now and we've got to fight our way up the table.

"The players have got to roll their sleeves up and scrap for the points. Our first priority is to get away from the bottom of the table and then we'll see where it takes us."

Asked whether he might look at signing Michael Chopra - who played for him at Sunderland - from cash-strapped Cardiff, the Blues boss didn’t entirely rule it out: "Chops is a very, very good striker. Whether our club can afford him on his wages remains to be seen."

Preston boss Darren Ferguson was delighted with loanee Danny Welbeck’s first Lilywhites goal: "You may call it cheeky but it was one hell of a finish. He showed great composure but we've got to be careful we don't place too much responsibility on him.

"He's only 19 and has come into a really hard league that he has never played in before.

"But as soon as he scored you could see the shackles come off and he grew in confidence. You would pay to see that sort of goal alone. What a magnificent finish."

Ferguson was quick to play down any rivalry with his former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane: "This wasn't about me or Roy. Roy is a good lad and the fact he was involved today had nothing to do with it.

"Ipswich had only lost one of their last 15 so this was a good result for us."

Photo: Action Images

Marcus added 04:44 - Jan 31 I think that the main problem is that Keane made changes to the squad with a demolition ball rather than rebuilding on the existing foundation. It lead to a horrendous start to the season and Town haven't fully recovered even if the team is starting to gel now. As Keane said the pre-season went awry and the season started before the squad was ready. Yes, we need someone who can put the ball into the net but goals don't just come from the strikers - questions can be asked of why the midfielders aren't getting on the score sheet more. Maybe Priskin needs some games to get his confidence back and we don't need anyone else? Maybe Chopra will come in and hit the ground running? Maybe none of these will happen and things will stay as they are, the team will sit awkwardly below mid-table and we'll have this same conversation over the season break. I have enough confidence in the current squad to think that they're good enough for that at least. Still, I don't see the world ending on the back of one bad performance.

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tractorboybig added 08:11 - Jan 31 Keaneish, rebuilding a team? Keene has had several months and it gets worse. In fact everyone he has brought to the club or on loan has made things worse. Why is everyone so pro keene? The facts speak for themselves, he's a league below Magilton.
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pottyblue added 08:26 - Jan 31 wicked blue nice to see somone with an ounce of sense ,we as a club have got a lot of overrated players that simply are not good enough to get us and keep us in the prem .as for firm founders how can you say anything look at colback,bergovic get real
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Ironfarmer added 09:03 - Jan 31 Unbelievably Bad Manager This was a fiasco made by Keane. Playing 4-5-1 against a team as bad as Preston; Peters central midfield ? Stead wide right ? Pim left back ? Counago on the bench when he's the one scoring now ? & he brought John off the bench - like that was going to get us a goal ! Keane must go before we get relegated. Can we have a vote please.
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Wickets added 09:19 - Jan 31 Now i'm not one for calling for managers heads. Iwant Keane to stay sort out the mess we have got ourselves into (or he has got us into whichever you want) i agree the team look fit and all seem to be trying hard,but please dont keep telling loyal fans" we dont score enough goals" WE KNOW . Fot the last 3 seasons, since Jim failed to sign Jeffers we have been shouting out, on this board ,just that. Untill management sort that OBVIOUS problem out we will struggle!! and to think the local press where saying season over, if only, we are in for a nervous religation dogfight and as for only lost 1 in 14 whatever you can make figures sound as you like,what about no wins in last 3 matches!! Come on.

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maximoalex added 10:48 - Jan 31 90% of the fans on here were anti-magilton by last season, & now they worship the ground he walks on because Keane isn't doing so well. They also seem to think we have a god given right to be in the prem or the play-offs. This is one of the toughest leagues to get out of in the world, it doesn't happen over night. Come on Keano you legend, I believe even if no-one else does!

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denhamblue added 11:30 - Jan 31 that post ,saying we are uncomfortably just under mid table,what league you looking at,were 21st,hardly cal that just under mid table,but i await your defence of oh,by that i meant only a few points of ,just mid table.,so dont bother ive answered for you.
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Mark added 11:48 - Jan 31 I thought things were turning round after our dreadful start, but it seems we are indeed turning back to the early-season woes. 2 defeats and 1 draw in 3 now, many changes to the team, strange tactical decisions, 21ST IN THE TABLE...this is very worrying. The club will stick with Keane but in the summer he will have a year left on his contract and how willing will Evans be to give him multi-millions to spend after the last money was invested in the likes of Priskin, Martin and Edwards?! Have I also noted one of two comments from Keane suggesting the club are not giving him the money he would like to spend?

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bennyblue added 11:49 - Jan 31 i,m not pro magilton but i know he was a better manager for town and you only have to look at the evidence to see i am correct .keane has been hired for two seasons to sort the club. he looks like he will only need one to destroy the club
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StowTractorBoy added 12:09 - Jan 31 We don't score goals because we play the wrong formation - what does the Manager expect. PNE were a very poor side and we were worse. 3 points were there for the taking but because of Keanes cautious approach we blew it. Of course the defence will slip up when they are overworked - I am still with you Roy but you need to change your mentaility and go for it rather than holding what you have.

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firmfoundations added 14:03 - Jan 31 North Stand77 - Proof is in the pudding. Keane has been saying that he needs a 20 goal striker since last summer. Where is he? And please don't say there aint any around cos many strikers that would have done a good job for us have gone elsewhere.
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ShefTractor added 14:30 - Jan 31 Blue_Floyd I don't think it's Priskin's laziness on his own that was the problem. You can have all the energy in the world but if you have no support and the ball is being lumped up to you, theres nothing you can do. He needs the ball played through for him to run on to, that's where he's dangerous. Also, Keane's change to 4-5-1 was a bad one which put us on the back foot. Once he'd put Stead in the midfield we didn't have enough up top to put pressure on their extremely weak defenders. Priskin should have scored his one chance, but how many times have we seen 1 in 5 go in from Pablo in his career here. Give the lad a chance, he gets no support up front, no supply in his strong areas and gets one chance a game. As a partnership, I thought Stead and Priskin we working pretty well together until Keane changed it as well.

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north_stand77 added 17:14 - Jan 31 Firmfoundations, my point was you are ASSUMING players that we would like, will not come here because Roy Keane is manager! I would suggest that there are many more possible reasons, IF that is the case. Along with the majority of fans expressing their views on here, I think we need a striker, confident and able to take chances. Our defence and midfield have generally looked more together the last few weeks. I have nohere near given up on RK - teams take time to shape. I still feel disappointed though,that Rhodes went. In my opinion, he should have been given more time, unless of course, other things went on that the supporters are not aware of.

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paddypowell added 18:44 - Jan 31 we need a goal getter it might sound mad but we still got lisbie hes scoring albeit in a lower divs no matter what divs ur in u still have to take and make chances bring him back and give him a few games what can we lose he cant b any worse than john
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mightytown added 18:49 - Jan 31 i have started to really fear that we might get relegated, things are not going our way and we lack that cutting ege we need to win games and secure points. i do not however, blame keane. i think he has done a good job in terms of rebuilding a very mediocre side. we are showing that on form we are a decent side that can hold their own against anyone in the division. the problem is we don't possess a single striker who can really make the difference and produce the cutting edge we need to take the chances we create. i dnt know whether the marcus evans is reluctant to give keane more money to spend because of the money that has already been spent on players who have flopped or they just want to consolidate for next year, but then it might be too late. if you want that extra quality in your side, you have to pay to get it, i'd be happy to wait until the summer but i really do fear that the way things have been going for us this season, we could go down, despite playing really well until the end of the season. our survival rests on whether we can pick up enough points to stear us clear of the drop. if we play as we have been recently, we should be fine but nothing is certain, relegation is most certainly a possibility.

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bluetoba added 19:00 - Jan 31 Alan Lee...That's all.
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NSL added 20:13 - Jan 31 I would like to pose a question: Considering that we have actually been on a good run of late but still 4th from bottom, with the nature of the games coming up and the seaon all but over what would happen if we suddenly went on a bad run?! We are in serious trouble.
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PunchNoHopers added 21:10 - Jan 31 Relegation battle here we come!
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naaridge1coly7 added 22:08 - Jan 31 get burley back before he signs up somewhere else....the only answer!!!!!!
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matt_the_blue added 22:15 - Jan 31 Amazing how the doom and gloom merchants come back out of the woodwork and start predicting the end of the world after one bad league result...
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DrJeckyll added 15:06 - Feb 1 Yep the babies are out in full force (surprise surprise). Hopefully they will drown in their own tears and do us all a favour, or trip over the rattles they have been chucking out of their prams and knock themselves out.
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