Bottoms up, Brown

RELEGATED Preston crashed to their 24th defeat of the season and are battling to avoid the wooden spoon.

Jason Scotland and David Norris netted first-half goals for the Tractor Boys before Paul Coutts pulled one back for Phil Brown's men.

Preston sit rock-bottom and need to beat Watford on Saturday and hope Scunthorpe lose to Portsmouth to avoid staying there.

But boss Brown has challenged his players to finish on a high.

He said: "I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think I could keep them up but, looking in from the outside, I didn't fully understand the problems. The club had got into a losing mentality.

"Certain individuals accepted that but I don't want to finish bottom of this league and we can still catch Scunthorpe."

Ipswich boss Paul Jewell is already planning for a promotion push next season with some fresh recruits.

He said: "Now we can start putting a team together that's serious about challenging. We're not where we want to be."

The Sun