Preston North End's hopes of automatic promotion suffered a blow on Saturday afternoon, as they were beaten 1-0 by Millwall at Deepdale.

After a bright opening 15 minutes, Alex Neil's side subsequently found it hard to create many chances amidst the challenging conditions brought about by Storm Dennis, meaning Shaun Hutchinson's header just over ten minutes from time was enough to secure all three points for the visitors.

Although Preston remain in sixth in the Championship table, they are now six points adrift of Leeds in the second automatic promotion place.

This performance in particular will have left Neil with plenty to think about ahead of his side's clash with Hull next Saturday, and here, we've taken a look at three things we learnt about Preston from that defeat to Millwall.

They need to be more alert with second balls from set-pieces

While Preston's defence has often been so effective at defending set-pieces this season, that did not feel like the case on Saturday.

On a number of occasions when a Millwall corner or free-kick was sent into the North End area, the clearance seemed to go back to a man in a yellow shirt on the edge of the box, allowing the visitors to reload with another cross or shot back into the Preston area.

Given Millwall's physicality and threat from such situations, it is perhaps no surprise that that is how their winner came about, when Murray Wallace was able to put the ball back into the box from a corner for Hutchinson to head home at the back post, highlighting the need for Preston to tighten up at the back in those situations, so as to avoid conceding similar, potentially damaging, goals in the next few weeks.

Can you name Preston's top scorer from each of the last 15 seasons?

Their lack of centre forward options could cost them in games like this

Recent weeks have seen Preston look to their attacking midfielders, rather than the limited number of centre forwards in their squad, to provide the goals, although that would change on Saturday.

In difficult conditions and up against a strong side, Neil elected to bring in a more out and out forward presence of his own for this match, with David Nugent returning to the starting XI to lead the line against Gary Rowett's side.

That was an approach that did not exactly work, with Nugent struggling to really impose himself on the game, either in terms of troubling Bartosz Bialkowski in the Millwall goal, or creating chances for his teammates.

With Jayden Stockley - who has a more physical presence than Nugent but is somewhat less established - North End's only other option available to fill that role, it seems as though Preston do face the prospect of coming unstuck upfront in games such as this over the next few weeks, which will be a concern for their play-off hopes.

Their home form deserted them at just the wrong moment

So often this season, it has been Preston's home form that has kept them in the hunt for the play-offs in spite of their inconsistent set of results on the road, with this defeat just their fourth on home soil in the league this season.

But having come into this one off the back of consecutive away victories earlier in the week to put them within touching distance of the top two, maintaining the aura of 'fortress Deepdale' against Millwall would have put them in increasingly strong stead heading into the final few weeks of the season, both on their own soil, and on the road.

The fact therefore that they were unable to do that will be particularly frustrating for Preston, particularly considering that only one side occupying a place in the top seven on Friday was able to pick up a win this weekend, meaning this has to go down as something of a missed opportunity.