| Preston North End 1 v 0 Ipswich Town EFL Championship Saturday, 23rd August 2025 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
O'Shea: We've Got to Trust in What We're Doing in Training Saturday, 23rd Aug 2025 18:49 by Kallum Brisset Town captain Dara O’Shea insists the Blues need to trust in what they are doing on the training pitch following the 1-0 defeat to Preston North End at Deepdale. Milutin Osmajić struck from the penalty spot just 11 minutes into the contest with the home side’s only shot on target to condemn Town to their first defeat of the campaign and leave them winless from their opening three Championship matches. O’Shea says he disagreed with the decision to award the penalty after Osmajić was brought down by Jacob Greaves following a high ball into the Blues’ box. “It’s obviously disappointing,” he said. “We came into this game with a lot of confidence, hoping we would get the three points and we didn’t today so it’s disappointing. "The manner in which we lost the goal, I don’t think it’s a penalty and I’ll stand by that, it’s very soft. This is it, it’s the Championship, you get dealt these blows sometimes. “We’ve got to trust in what we’re doing on the training pitch and the hard work that we’re putting in and it will come. “We’ve got a new group and we’re trying to integrate new players in. We haven’t really had a lot of time to gel with the group so it’s hard, but it’s not an excuse. For us as a group going forward, it’s just believing in what we’re doing and it will come. “This league is not an easy league, I don’t think anyone can take it for granted and we’re certainly not. We knew today was going to be tough, we got dealt a bit of a blow today and I don’t think we deserved it fully. “These are a Preston side who have played with each other for a long time and have been very successful. They’ve had a good start to the season and they have some serious threats. “I thought we nullified them today, which is positive for us. They’ve got two big bodies forward and I don’t think they had a shot bar the penalty, so you can take confidence from that and you can take a lot of disappointment too that they’ve come away and won the game by that. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, I think it will come. The stuff that I’m seeing on the training pitch and the quality that we’ve added, once we get that gelled together mixed with the hard work that we’re putting in, I think it will come good for us and we’ll be in a good place.” Town have struggled to find their clinical edge so far this season, registering just one shot on target in each of their opening two matches against Birmingham City and Southampton before just two at Deepdale. The Blues had 72 per cent possession against Preston as the Lilywhites were happy to let Kieran McKenna’s side keep the ball, but Town failed to create a clear-cut opportunity while chasing the game. O’Shea says that problem is easier to fix and was pleased with the way the home side were limited to very few opportunities of their own. He said: “We didn’t concede many chances today, I think they had one shot. We can take the positives from that and it’s really unlucky for the manner that we lost the game. “We’re creating chances, we’re just not scoring enough goals. It’s hard, teams are playing against us knowing that they want to come away with a point if possible and they’ll take whatever they can get. “We’ve got to switch our mentality from last season. We were the hunters and now we’re being hunted this season. It’s just understanding that and having the confidence to keep going in games, pushing on and believing in what we’re doing.” When that first win of the season does come, Town will hope to snowball into the season to get their Premier League promotion push firmly on the right track. For now, though, it is just two points from a possible nine to start the season, but O’Shea believes the Blues can count themselves unfortunate it is not more. “These first three games, we’ve been really unlucky at times,” the 26-year-old said. “Especially Southampton last week, I really thought we deserved the three points and we were unlucky not to get that. “Birmingham was a different game and the intensity was high, we knew it was going to be tough to hang in there and we ended up doing that. “Then today, I really felt we deserved to get the win. I thought we had enough chances to capitalise, push for an equaliser and then a winner, but it wasn’t to be.”
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