Slip purl for face opening

I may have screwed up. Making a balaclava

Instructions say
From mid side marker, work 1 st, knit and bind off the next 24 sts (note: bind off sts very loosely), work 25 sts, place a marker to indicate the new beginning of round (mid back), then work 25 sts to end of round.
Remove the mid side marker as the color swap will be made from the back marker.
There are now 52 sts on your 3.75 mm [ 80 cm ] circular needles.
Now work the face opening back and forth as follows:
Row 1: Slip the first stitch purlwise (meaning you have to slip the first st from the left to the right needle as a purl st), * k1, p1 * rep * _ * to last st, k1, turn.

The problem was we casted on 74 stitches.

so I bound off 22 stitches and then had 52 remaining.

Now, the first slip purlwise falls on a knit stitch. And then the rib will be off. What should I do here

Hello
What pattern is it? Can you give us the name/number and designer, or a link to where you bought it or found it please?

Check further along in the pattern to see if the mistake in the stitch number is in the original cast on or in the number of sts to bind off. If you can’t tell then binding off 22sts will likely work.
As far as the slip stitch, go ahead and slip purlwise then continue the rib pattern as you have established it in previous rows. You don’t want the rib pattern to be off or misaligned. It’s better to read your knitting and align the pattern than strictly adhere to the directions.