Preston North End must make significant decision if they lose to Bristol City: View | OneFootball

6,000 Preston North End supporters enjoyed themselves for the most part in London on Saturday as the Lilywhites took on Chelsea in the third round of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge, but the 4-0 result in favour of the Premier League side was almost expected to happen when it was all said and done.

North End battled well in the first half, but top flight class eventually shone through for Mauricio Pochettino's side, who ran rampant in the second half to comfortably progress into the last 32.

PNE's players applauded the travelling fans for a number of minutes as they sung loud and proud, but keeping his distance was manager Ryan Lowe, who clapped briefly from around 40 yards away from The Shed End before heading down the tunnel.

Saturday was somewhat of a free hit for Lowe, but attentions will turn back to Championship action this coming weekend and that is where he is surely battling to save his job.

PNE form since early season win streak was snapped has been derisory

Following a late equaliser away at Bristol City on the opening day of the season, Preston North End went on a surprise six-match winning streak in the league which put them at the top of the standings after seven games.

Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, Swansea City, Stoke, Plymouth Argyle and Birmingham were all seen off by Lowe's men, and even though some of those results were fortuitous with the opposition wasting many chances to score, there was a lot of optimism on the terraces, especially after the seven-figure additions of Mads Frøkjær-Jensen and Milutin Osmajic in the transfer window.

The feeling was though at some point, PNE's luck would run out, and in the 20 matches that have followed the 2-1 win over Birmingham, North End have won just four of their 20 league outings.

PNE have conceded four or more goals in four of those matches, and out of a possible 60 points, North End have picked up just 15 - a tally which is not good enough following a good start to the season which did have its flaws statistically.

Wins over Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United in November and December especially brought some much-needed joy, but most performances aside from that have been pretty poor and it has heaped the pressure on Lowe.

It is not just performances on the pitch that have drawn the ire of some North End fans - it is Lowe's occasionally spikey comments in the press.

Quite clearly feeling the pressure last month, Lowe seemed to insinuate that supporters who do not have their coaching badges cannot have much of a say on the club's identity and style of play when being told by BBC Radio Lancashire's Andy Bayes that fans had been wanting to know what the actual identity of Lowe's style is.

That was bad enough, but following a 2-0 defeat against Sunderland on New Year's Day, Lowe claimed that the upcoming Chelsea clash was the 'least of his worries' - something he later backtracked on but it still angered much of the fanbase that were set to travel down to hopefully see the regular starting 11 put up a fight.

A loss against Bristol City should be the end of Lowe at PNE

North End were last in the play-off spots in late November before they were battered 4-0 away at Middlesbrough, and they have been no higher than eighth in the table since.

Now in 14th position after just one win in their last five league contests, with the other four being defeats, the chasing pack have caught up and are continuing to catch the Lancashire outfit, and depending on this coming weekend's results, they could be in 17th by the end of it.

Should all results go against them and they lose themselves to Bristol City at Deepdale, North End would still be 10 points from the relegation zone, but you start to wonder where the next win is going to come from - just like Hull City did in 2019-20 when they were eighth in the table at the start of January 2020 and then finished bottom and were relegated.

Losing to Bristol City, who in fairness have picked up some form under Liam Manning, would likely be the final straw for many North End fans - some who have already lost faith in Lowe, who promised exciting, attacking football as part of his 'brand' when he arrived at Deepdale in December 2021.

When Frankie McAvoy was sacked before Lowe's eventual appointment, the Scotsman had picked up 25 points in 21 matches before being given the boot - even if North End win on Saturday that will only be 18 points in the same amount of matches, so a defeat will surely spell the end for Lowe and his coaching staff, no matter how much it takes to pay them off.