CRAIG Brown says he alone is blame for North End's failure to reach the play-offs this year.

The North End boss says Preston could have ended up in the fight for the play-offs had he moved quicker to sign extra strikers.

North End went through Christmas and most of January without collecting a single point, an eight-game run which sent them plummeting down the league.

The poor run coincided with Ricardo Fuller's season-ending, career-threatening knee injury and a long layoff to Richard Cresswell which restricted North End's goal-scoring ability.

Brown said: "Had we not had the poor run over Christmas, then we would be much higher up now and in contention.

"I am the one to blame for that. I didn't bring in cover quickly enough and it cost us dear. We now have Simon Lynch and George Koumantarakis but I should have got someone in more quickly than I did."

Brown's comments came after his side beat promotion-pushing Sheffield United. North End had little trouble beating the Yorkshire outfit, but less than two days later stumbled at Wimbledon, losing 2-0.

Brown said: "On our day, we can beat any team in the league, but we can also lose to any team.

"We aren't consistent enough and that comes from having a young side. It is something we have to work on."

An impending striker crisis was feared after Cresswell came off injured during Saturday's win, but Brown ruled out bringing back David Healy, on loan at Norwich.

Cresswell is now expected to be fit for this weekend's home tie against Bradford, the last home match of the season.

Brown said: "We agreed a three month deal for David and we are sticking with that. They are still in with a shout for the play-offs, we are just playing for pride."

Some pundits, however, still believe North End have more than just pride to play for.

The BBC's Mark Lawrenson wrote in Saturday's match-day programme: "Preston need to finish in the top 10.

"That is very important because it is what players look at when they consider joining a club.

"If you finish 10th they think 'they could make the play-offs next year' but if you finish 15th or 16th then you are looking downwards."

North End are 12th on 58 points - just a point outside the top 10. However, they are only three points clear of 15th or 16th place, currently home to Burnley FC.

After Bradford visit Deepdale, North End hit the road to Norfolk for the last game of the season, a week on Sunday.

Even though they are out of the playoffs, they could still have a say who makes it into the final four.