Manager Simon Grayson wasn’t sure which emotion to choose having taken a point in a game his side were 2-0 down, but also 3-2 up.
He spoke straight after the six-goal thriller with Rotherham United and admitted he felt the manner of the goals that the visitors had scored left him thinking it was a game the Lilywhites should have wion.
“I am frustrated and disappointed, because to concede a goal so late in the game and not secure the three points is very disappointing,” he said.
“We didn’t start the game well enough, but we warned the players that might happen, because they are a strong physical team and have a good temp to the game, but we got a reaction from the players.
“Everything we said to the players before the game came to fruition. They started the game quickly, were powerful, direct, won a lot of second balls and we didn’t deal with it well enough. There were no surprises, we have to learn from that.
“They started to get the ball down and pass it properly, created some good chances and were totally dominant from the 30 minute mark, right the way through to the last few minutes.”
The reaction of the team was excellent after the opening Millers blitz and the PNE boss felt his side could and should have killed the game off at that point.
“It was a great reaction from the players to go 3-2 up,” he continued. “We had opportunities to kill the game off and then the equalising goal was a real soft one from our point of view.
“Declan made the save and Lairdy went back to try and help him on the line and it got pushed onto Lairdy and went back in as an own goal.
“They didn’t have to work for their goals tonight. The first one was a poor goal, the second was a set piece where Tom Clarke was unfortunate and then the third was a really soft goal.
“We come out with a lot of positives from the game, but the disappointment is that we haven’t won the game.
“There was real quality on our goals. Gally got into a nice little area and finished it off with his left foot and that gave us the impetus to go and get in the lead.
“We put the ball into good areas. The front two were lively; Craig Davies gave us the goal just before half-time, which gave us the opportunity to get back into it and then we just kept going.
“It was a great ball in from Chris Humphrey for Joe Garner to get a good header – so they were good goals from our point of view, just soft, unnecessary ones we could have done better with at the other end.”
And now the busy week moves onto a third game in seven days at the weekend: “We started the game well with the three points at Colchester; we were desperate to get the three points tonight, but the next best thing is a point and we would certainly have settled for that when we went two down after ten minutes.
“We go again on Saturday. It will be a different type of game, against a footballing team and we have to make sure that we are good enough to try and go win the game,” he added.