Leeds United's Stuart Dallas has held his hands up and admitted that his side were 'below standard' in the first half of their 1-1 draw with Preston North End on Boxing Day. 

The Northern Irishman ended up being Leeds' hero with an 89th minute deflected shot salvaging a point for Marcelo Bielsa's men to see them move eight points clear of third place.

The draw leaves the Whites three games without a win, their longest winless run of the season after only taking two points from a possible nine.

Speaking to the club's official media channels, Dallas admitted that there is room for improvement following the Boxing Day draw.

"In the first half we were way below the standards we set ourselves and we know that, Preston are a good side, they came here, pressed high and unsettled us," the 28-year-old told the club's media.

Despite this, Dallas felt Leeds did grow into the game, and on the second-half performance said: "In the second half, when we got going, though, we felt there was only going to be one winner towards the end, we couldn’t win the game, but if you can’t win it, you have to make sure you don’t lose it."

Leeds face two tricky away games in the shape of Birmingham City and league leaders West Bromwich Albion next and will be desperate to start widening that gap from third, given the way the Whites crumbled towards the end of last year's campaign.

The Verdict

Dallas has been one of Leeds' standout players so far this term and with these comments has shown as a senior member of the squad, that the side are willing to accept they were not up to their usual standard.

Should Leeds go and win at Birmingham and take something away from the Hawthorns, this mini run of no wins will soon be forgotten, but it will be intriguing to see how the Whites respond.

Fortunately for the Whites, results did go their way with pretty much all of the chasing pack dropping points and in hindsight a draw against a very well organised Preston side may go down as a decent result.

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