John Welsh returned to the side for North End’s trip to Colchester, but couldn’t prevent the 1-0 defeat.
North End’s No.19 took over as skipper for the game against Colchester United, and put in a strong performance for the Lilywhites at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.
Welsh, who came close on two occasions to equalising following Freddie Sears opener, told PNE.Com all the lads were disappointed with the result, but have to respond professionally at Yeovil Town on Tuesday.
“All the lads are disappointed after today’s game, we played ok in the first half and we controlled the game at times,” said the former Liverpool midfielder.
“Coming into the second half we conceded the goal early on and it was a very sloppy goal to concede and from there we couldn’t find our way back into the game.
“Credit to the lads, they never gave up and we always believed that we could get back into the game and over the 90 minutes I thought that we deserved at least a point, but it wasn’t to be. It is a disappointed day but we only have ourselves to blame.
“We will take the positives away from the first half display, we walked into the dressing rooms at half time feeling quite comfortable with our performance and they didn’t cause too many problems.
“However, they went on to score in the second half and we can’t be giving away sloppy goals like those.
“We have to respond now in the right manner against Yeovil Town on Tuesday night. It is another long journey to make and they are on a very good run of form and for us it is now the biggest game of the season.
“We need to go there and make sure we don’t lose, we have put pressure on ourselves and we need to make sure we give everything we have got because it will get harder due to the run we are on.
“It will take that little bit more than it usually would but we will be looking to go there and get all three points.”