Josh Harrop was quick to put today's result behind him after North End were cancelled out by their opponents this afternoon.
Mustapha Carayol’s opener midway through the first half proved the difference between the two sides at Deepdale, which inflicted North End’s first defeat in seven game.
“Today just wasn’t our day,” said Harrop. Every game the lads put everything into it and we always try our hardest but we just couldn’t create enough today.
“A few of the lads have played a lot of games and maybe they could have been feeling it today but that’s no excuse. We go out to try and win every game and we’ve been in great form recently and it’s just disappointing that we couldn’t get anything out of the game.
“They cancelled us out quite well and their centre halves headed everything and that’s their style of play and they did it well today. We found it difficult to create anything up top, we tried different formations but we just couldn’t get it to work today.
“Their players knew what they came to do today and they cancelled us out in every way. The gaffer tried to change it a few times but we just couldn’t get the spark today.
After the game, Harrop struck a determined figure as he and his team-mates look to re-focus on their efforts ahead of next week’s crucial game against Bolton Wanderers.
“Sometimes setbacks help the lads get together and push on,” continued the PNE No. ten.
“There’s not a lot of games now and we wanted to push as hard as we can to get into the play-offs and that’s our aim - we wanted to try and win every game we play now and it’s just about sticking together and putting the performances in that we need to do.
“It’s a great game to go back into, especially with it being a Derby and we’ll go fighting and pushing as hard as we can.”
Watch Josh's interview on iFollow now.