Shrewsbury Town's Mike Jackson: Fans deserve better

And he was critical of his players, saying they were 'capable of doing more' following their 5-2 loss at Deepdale, which left the team six points from safety with two games to play.

More than 300 supporters made the trip to Preston hoping to see Town resurrect their slender survival hopes with a vitally-needed win.

But following their latest defeat, Town's relegation will be confirmed if they fail to beat Peterborough at home on Saturday, and even then they must rely on sides above them losing as well to avoid their return to the English fourth tier being confirmed that day.

And Jackson said: "The fans were good again yesterday. I just feel sorry for them with regards to what is happening at this moment in time.

"All I can do is say we will keep fighting to the end but they need to see more than that from some players, and the lads who were out there are capable of doing more than that.

"I will never say it is as good as done (while it's possible to stay up). Obviously it is going to be unbelievably difficult but we have got to do better than we did yesterday."

Jackson was also critical of his side's failure to win several 50/50 balls against their promotion-chasing opponents.

But he conceded that inexperience had also been a factor in the result, which saw Town ship five goals for the first time this season.

He said: "It was a young squad out there and some of them have just come up short in experience and knowhow against a really good Preston side full of experience. It's a learning curve for some of them."

but it's not a good learning curve for the club because their club is in the mire at the moment."

Jackson cut a frustrated figure yesterday and he hinted that there had been some issues 'behind the scenes' within the club in recent months but declined to elaborate further.

Asked if he felt that there had been an 'acceptance of things' from some of his players yesterday, he said: "I think there was a couple like that.

"I think there's a lot gone on behind the scenes in the last couple of months but it is not the right time to say (anything). This club is in a bad position at this moment in time. It is right up against it now. It is not mathematically certain (we will be relegated) but we need to win (our remaining) two games and hope every one else loses all their's."