Preston are a club presently drifting without anyone taking hold of the tiller either on or off the field. If this blindness continues then Preston will be in a scrap to avoid relegation.
McAvoy who was given his first managerial role did well to steer Preston to safety towards the end of last season but this season has seen the club lurch from one bad performance to another backed by Peter Ridsdale who is willing to defy and alienate a large number of supporters.
North End faced Cardiff who were having an appalling season and actually sat below Preston in the table. The weather was terrible and Preston's performance matched the conditions.
Preston started the the better of the two teams coming out of the blocks fast. A Riis run led to a corner from which resulted the rare sight of Maguire poking home from close range.
Despite the early lead Preston failed to capitalise and Cardiff grew in confidence coming back into the game especially after the break when there was only one team in the game.
The visitors fired an early warning shot by hitting the post. Shortly after the levelled from a set piece. The defending was abysmal as McGuinness head home unmarked inside the six yard box.
North End never looked like taking the ascendency and much like at Forest they were bereft of any idea. Cardiff could sense Preston lacked any creativity and without doing anything special they took the game away from Preston.
Collins headed home at a corner for Cardiff to give them the lead. Again it was poor defensively but it sums up where Preston are currently at in terms of performances.
Ridsdale will tell you that we have one of the lowest turnovers in the league with one of the lowest wage bills acting within financial fair play but this is masking the real problems at the club.
The squad are less capable than recent years partly due to losing key individual players and not replacing them adequately but Preston still have a squad which are clearly under achieving in a season where there are a number of distincly average teams.
Preston should have enough to avoid a relegation battle. Derby are almost certain to go down with a points deduction but it shows how far Preston have fallen that we are now more concerned about finding two poorer teams than North End to fill the final two relegation spots.
It is unclear if McAvoy is on borrowed time simply because there is uncertainty at every level at the club at Preston from top down. The future direction of the club is unkown and whilst that decision will be taken in due course it might be that a managerial change will be required sooner rather than later to avoid a slide into trouble.