Huddersfield Town chief Andre Breitenreiter slams 'unacceptable' defending as Terriers painful run continues at Deepdale against Championship rivals Preston

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN head coach Andre Breitenreiter said that his relegation-haunted side's second-half defending was 'unacceptable' after being on the receiving end of a late Milutin Osmajic treble in a painful Championship collapse at Deepdale.

The Preston replacement came off the bench to bag a hat-trick inside eight minutes to deny Town a precious survival point and also dent their goal difference in a 4-1 reverse.

Josh Koroma fired the relegation-battling Terriers in front late in the first half but the tide turned after the break after as Will Keane levelled from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after the striker had been clipped by Alex Matos.

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But the arrival of Montenegrin forward Osmajic, described as pure class by North End chief Ryan Lowe afterwards, proved the trump card.

Huddersfield Town manager André Breitenreiter during the Sky Bet Championship match at Preston North End. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.Huddersfield Town manager André Breitenreiter during the Sky Bet Championship match at Preston North End. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.
Huddersfield Town manager André Breitenreiter during the Sky Bet Championship match at Preston North End. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images.

He put top-six aspirants Preston in front in the 84th minute before scoring again in the 87th minute and the first minute of stoppage time.

It continued Town's grim record at Deepdale, where they have won just once in 22 visits since November 1969.

Breitenreiter, whose side visit Bristol City on Saturday ahead of two huge home games with Swansea City and Birmingham City, said: "When you defend like we did in the second half, you cannot get some points.

"It was terrible, it was poor, too many ball losses.

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"We played a really good first half, but we missed the final pass to score more goals, we had really good opportunities to score two or three goals and we didn't do that…

"I cannot tell you my opinion (on the penalty decision) because I didn't see the clip. But the goal changed everything. Then we have to speak about our own performance and the performance was not good enough.

"After 1-1 there were too many ball losses, we didn't play as a team, we had bad body language. It was a different game and it was not acceptable for me.

"When we defend like that, it's impossible to get points and we have to do better on Saturday."

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