Coventry City manager Steven Pressley felt that Preston deserved their 2-0 victory at the Ricoh Arena.
Speaking to the Press Association, Pressley said: "Credit to Preston. They were very physical and they are a very strong League One side and they deserved their win.
"From our point of view we did not play with the strength or the fluency we need.
"The confidence of the group looked a little down. After a good run we have had a couple of disappointments and it has affected us, but the only way we are going to change that is by working even harder.
"For the seven games unbeaten, we played with real energy and belief, but we lacked that and, to be honest, that surprised me.
"We have to learn to deal with expectations and we didn't achieve that. I did not see that coming. We have to sort that out this week."