Preston North End slumped to successive defeats as they were comfortably beaten 4-0 by Hull City on Wednesday evening. 

Hull blew away Preston and condemned the Lilywhites to consecutive defeats for the first time this season.

Three second-half goals secured the points for the Tigers and saw Preston drop to fifth in the Championship table, six points behind second-placed Leeds United.

Alex Neil's men have impressed people so far this term, establishing themselves as one of the early season favourites and this defeat would have certainly raised a few eyebrows.

After only trailing 1-0 at the break, any hopes of a Preston comeback were quickly extinguished when the Tigers charged into a three goal lead just six minutes after the restart.

Speaking to the club's official media channels after the game, boss Alex Neil said: "I think the timing of the goals killed us tonight, we had chances but we couldn’t take them and the fact is they were ruthless when they came along."

North End did see more of the possession during the game but the Tigers easily created the more open chances and took theirs comfortably when they came.

Alex Neil must dust himself and his side down as they prepare to take on league leaders West Bromwich Albion on Monday night, where they will be hoping to avoid a third successive defeat.

Discussing how his team needs to react, Neil said: "I think with any decent team and good players is that they react to disappointment."

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The Verdict

Preston are the second highest scorers in the league so far this term and although finding themselves 1-0 down at the break on Wednesday, it wouldn't have diminished their confidence too much in getting into the game.

As Neil pointed out however, it was certainly the timings of Hull's second and third goals that would have thrown his side, finding themselves 3-0 down by the 51st minute.

North End had been prolific in their last six games netting 14 times before the 1-0 defeat to Derby County last weekend and Neil will be keen to see his side rediscover that form in time for the clash with West Brom on Monday evening.