Boss Joe Royle was left exasperated at referee Eddie Ilderton's performance as the Blues lost 3-1 at Preston. The Town manager says the official has agreed to have another look at the incident which led to Richard Naylor's tenth minute red card.

Royle said: "I'm exasperated. It's been a season of injuries and referees, I'm afraid.

"The referee has agreed to look at the video again and I don't know if I'm hopeful or not. It shows clearly that Ormerod miscontrols the ball away to the side of the goal and he's on his way to the floor before Naylor even got near him.

"I'm also disappointed with the attitude of the Preston players, harassing to get him sent off, but it's not a sending off.

"It's an important game for both of us and it's effectively ruined as a contest. I can't and won't say what I really want to say."

Naylor, sent off earlier in the season against Millwall, faces a two-game ban starting with the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday, if the referee fails to change his mind.

Preston boss Billy Davies was unimpressed with Royle's comments regarding his players and the Town boss's attitude to the officials: "I was disappointed with the way he was trying to bully the referee throughout the 90 minutes. I like the man, I've got a lot of time for him, but he should maybe worry about his own players."

Davies says two-goal striker David Nugent faces a lengthy absence after limping off in the second half: "It doesn't look good and we just have to wait to see what's going on.

"We think it's possibly a broken metatarsal but we don't know. He said he felt his ankle go over, it's a disappointment and a major blow, but hopefully it won't be as bad as we think. That would be at least six weeks if the injury is confirmed."

The Preston boss said he switched things around after finding his side a goal down after the break: "We changed one or two things and we upped the tempo in the second half and it is a very, very important three points for us.

"There was never any panic. We have been playing well, we've been creating chances and we've come up against good goalkeeping in the last couple of games.

"All credit to the players in the second half. I thought their spirit, determination and courage, to be behind and do what they did in the second half, was a great credit to every one of them."

Photo: Action Images

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