Preston North End manager admits squad is lacking with one eye on January

Lowe was speaking after the 4-2 defeat to rivals Blackpool on Saturday, where his side dominated much of the game but could not make their superiority count when it came to the scoreline.

The PNE boss wants his side to find some consistency after three defeats and two wins in their last five games.

He said: "Of course we are a little bit off, a little bit lacking, we know what we need. All of the players we've got, particularly at the top end of the pitch give you some different things, different outputs and play differently.

"But we know what we need, a bit of consistency. We get the back door shut for large parts of games, alright we've conceded four on Saturday but I'd like to think that won't happen again because we'll look at it and see what we can do better.

"At the top end of the pitch if we can have that last little bit of clinical edge then we'll win more games."

In the summer, Lowe spoke of how many players he wanted to bring in, two more than he got, one being a new striker.

But the North End manager seems to be at relative peace with where his side is at this moment in time even with their flaws.

He said: “There is loads we can take from the game. I said to the group that I've had time to reflect from the week where we lost two games on the bounce, and the group have reflected, I'm sure they've looked at what they've done bad and good. I do the same. I reflect all the time.

"What I have realised at the moment is that that's us. That's what Preston North End have got, that's the squad we've got.

"Until we get to January and potentially change on or two things, that's us. That's where we're going to be. We'll win games, we'll lose games, we'll draw games. To have that consistency and find your way to stay in the top half of the division is half but that's what we want to try and achieve.”