Scott Wiseman believes that Preston North End’s defeat to Swindon Town is exactly what the players’ needed ahead of the league run in.
PNE suffered a single goal defeat to end their 12 game unbeaten league run and the defender thinks that the result could be the perfect tonic in the long run.
Speaking to PNE.Com following the full-time whistle, Wiseman said: “Losing is unknown to us and out the blue, but it might be a good thing in the long run.
“We might have needed this to kick us on for the last eight games of the season and finish now on a real strong note.
“We are looking at this as a big wake up call, we did so well on Monday night against Sheffield United and maybe we just thought we could take our foot off the gas in the back of our minds.
“We didn’t actively do that, but sometimes that does happen in football and it has happened today and we will be looking to rectify that on Tuesday and for the rest of the season.
“Tuesday is a chance to get this out our system very quickly, that’s what we are looking forward to.
“It has already gone out our heads, there is no point in dwelling on this, it happens in football and what has happened over the last 30 odd games of the season isn’t going to be killed as a result of one game.
“It is hard to take and the lads have took it so hard and are so upset with themselves about it – it’s a good sign.
“It is a testament to us and a testament to the team and a testament to the management staff as well that our standards are so high that we expect to be doing so much better, week in, week out and it is one blip that has annoyed us so much.”
Preston failed to get going all afternoon at the County Ground and found themselves behind during the opening exchanges of the second half thanks to a spot kick.
And Wiseman was at a loss to explain why the performance had been so poor.
“It was a very difficult afternoon for us, hard to take,” stated the Gibraltar international.
“We never played anywhere near as well as we usually do and we would have wanted to, so we feel we have let ourselves down.
“There is no explanation to how that performance happened, it has happened, its football, it happens every week in all divisions and it will not happen on Tuesday.
“The good thing is we have the game on Tuesday for us to put that right.
“There is no excuse for it, for some reason we sat off in the second half which is very unlike us and it is hard to explain why it went wrong and like I said, it is hard to take.”
The sole goal of the contest came when Neil Kilkenny was adjudged to have brought down Swindon man of the match Ben Gladwin; Michael Smith sending Declan Rudd the wrong way from 12 yards.
And Wiseman had no complaints over the decision.
He continued: “I felt it was a penalty, or at least a foul, I’m not sure where it started in terms of inside or outside of the 18-yard-box, but the lads never argued or kicked off about it, it was just one of those things.”