Lamouchi laments silly mistakes in Cardiff loss at Preston

Cardiff boss Sabri Lamouchi lamented the silly mistakes that cost his side, in the defeat against Preston.

Tom Cannon and Ched Evans scored in the second half of a tight game in which Cardiff goalkeeper Jak Alnwick was sent off, just a week after first-choice keeper  Ryan Allsop was dismissed against Bristol City.

Chances were at a premium in a first half which saw Cardiff’s Kion Etete flash a strike just wide but North End finished on top with a flurry of chances for Troy Parrott, Alvaro Fernandez, and Bambo Diaby.

Cannon finally found the net 67 minutes in, latching on to an excellent Greg Cunningham pass and blasting past Alnwick.

Alnwick was sent off for a reckless challenge on Cannon in added time and Ched Evans poked home the second from the rebound of Ben Whiteman’s resulting free-kick to seal the points.

Unbelievable

He called the stoppage-time dismissals of goalkeepers Allsop and Alnwick in consecutive games “unbelievable” but refused to put blame on Alnwick’s shoulders.

Lamouchi said: “We lost our mind and made stupid mistakes. Unfortunately, if you are not absolutely concentrating, you get punished in the Championship.

“We made a few mistakes in the second half but didn’t make these mistakes in the first half.

“We could have avoided putting our goalkeeper in trouble. He’s very disappointed but it’s not his fault. We gave him a very bad ball – how could he play it?

“We need to move on and fortunately we have a game in three days at home again. We need to think about our mistake and focus on the next one. Some people want to look behind, but I want to look forward.

“I’m very disappointed. After the first half, we were in the game. We created chances. It’s not easy to play here but we started well. We need to be more determined, more concentrated, more killer.”

The victory leaves the Lilywhites seven points off the play-offs and unbeaten in six games, with Freddie Woodman picking up his 16th clean sheet, while Cardiff remain six points above the bottom three.