Sometimes, you can’t begin to understand Ryan Lowe’s Preston North End, you just have to ride the streaky results.
Just as the walls appeared to be closing in on Ryan Lowe, the North End boss is doing it again – he’s finding a streak of results.
Lowe has been under immense scrutiny for months now having struggled for victories.
North End embraced one of the Lowe streaks at the start of the season, winning six games in a row to take Championship top spot.
Then came a run of just three wins in 16 as the North End streak-o-meter swung in the opposite direction.
PNE publicly backed Lowe ahead of facing Leeds United on Boxing Day, only to lose two of the next three and keep Lowe in danger.
The 2-0 home win over Bristol City in January has felt like a turning point though and PNE have now lost just one of the last six.
Wednesday’s battling 2-1 win over Middlesbrough means it’s now three wins in a row and four unbeaten, with Lowe now in a positive run once again.
These runs are completely baffling; North End didn’t concede a single goal in the first seven league games of last season in a frankly bizarre period.
Last season also saw PNE go on runs of six defeats in eight, then one defeat in 11 with six wins along the way, then four defeats in five to end the season.
Lowe’s PNE are just so streaky, just as capable of winning five games in a row as they are losing five in a row.
That ultimately means that Lowe never seems too far away from being under pressure again but he does deserve praise for turning around this situation.
That statement just before Christmas felt like a stay of execution and not many were backing him to come out of the other side.
Well, he has found a run of form again and beating decent sides – Ipswich Town, Cardiff City and Middlesbrough – to get back on track.
North End took zero points from the corresponding fixtures earlier this season, losing by an aggregate score of 9-4.
This run has seen PNE take nine points from the same three opponents whilst scoring seven and conceding three.
When Lowe’s back is against the wall, he seems to find a run of results again and North End fans will be praying that this run continues with Blackburn Rovers the visitors to Deepdale this weekend.
Lowe himself would probably wish PNE weren’t quite so up and down, but he is finding results again and quietening some of the noise around his position.