Mark Fotheringham admits Huddersfield Town 'weren't really at it' in 1-0 defeat to Preston North End

The Scot praised his side's effort but if they want to stay in the Championship, they will have to show a lot more than that.

The Terriers did not have a shot on target all game and once they allowed Greg Cunningham to score from a 50th-minute corner, there was never a feeling they would take anything from a game against the team with the best defensive record in the division.

"Disappointing," was Fotheringham's verdict. "We weren't really at it and it was a really soft goal to concede again.

"There was a real frustration about the place and we just couldn't really click into gear. That was the frustrating thing.

"We kind of huffed and puffed and I must say the lads really worked hard, they kept pushing right to the end so we can't fault them for their effort but it's disappointing to concede a goal like that, especially in front of the home fans."

Adding to the frustration was the fact Preston's goal came from a corner, and set-pieces are one of the strengths of this Terriers side.Etienne Camara was at fault when former Doncaster Rovers captain Ben Whiteman put the ball over.

"He just got caught under it a bit and the guy outjumps him," said Fotheringham.

"It's just a hard one because we're really good at (attacking) set plays and someone's done us on a set play today."We just have to accept it but when you're bottom of the table you're trying to limit these things and we didn't quite do that well enough.

"We weren't really clinical (either).

"We didn't really trouble them much.

"There's a lot of work to do.

"There is quality in the building. We've shown on occasion we can hurt teams when we click into gear.

"We've got a lot of offensive players on the pitch and Jordan (Rhodes) and Wardy (Danny Ward) have been giving teams a lot of problems but it's just our final ball."