Eckert: We need to start stronger
A frustrated Tonda Eckert reacted to his side's defeat at Preston in the Sky Bet Championship, a result which brought to an end a six-game unbeaten run in the competition.
Saints were immediately put on the back foot by their hosts, going a goal behind on 33 minutes through Jordan Thompson's volley. Despite dominanting the ball during the second half, Eckert's side struggled to respond on the scoresheet.
"We played straight into their hands," said the head coach. "In these games, you just need to make sure that you start strong. Obviously, they have one chance of putting their foot into the game. For us, that means starting even stronger than them, and we didn't manage to do that in the first half. I think there was more than enough in the second half, but overall, it's just disappointing.
"Every team, they jump so much [when playing Saints]. I think they left all of their energy out, so we knew that they were going to be in the block [second half]. Then, in the second half, it was a completely different game. It's about scoring that [equaliser]. I think there were more than enough chances to put one away. We also had the chance to score the second one to make it three points, but I think over 90 minutes, that's not good enough from us.
"I think there were two episodes with the referee, but as much as I have an opinion on those, today this game is not about the referee, it's about us. I think that we need to be good enough to come away with three points here.
"Looking back a little bit on the last time we went into the international break, it was similar. We had a very good block and we gave a game away against Wrexham, and it was just disappointing.
"If we look at the whole block, there were a lot of positives. We need to make sure that we don't play a first half like today again. A week after the break, with two games at home, we need to make sure that we kick-start strongly.
