Freddie Woodman said he was hurting after the 1-0 defeat at Deepdale against Norwich City.
North End went into the game against the East Anglian outfit, who occupy the final Play-Off spot, with ambitions of closing the gap to the top six.
After a pretty tight affair, it was the Canaries who made the breakthrough in the 86th minute and went on to take the three points.
Reacting to the loss, Freddie said: “It hurts really, to come within touching distance again in such an important game. We gave everything and it wasn’t enough.
“We’ve come away with defeat and it’s really disappointing. It’s pretty raw. It’s hard but we have to somehow get ourselves up for the remaining fixtures.
“This league is mad. It’s crazy so it could be interesting but we’re disappointed.”
PNE had the best opportunity of an otherwise even first half and with the last action of it, as Jack Whatmough headed against the crossbar.
Chances were more at a premium in the second period for either side and Ryan Lowe made changes to try and turn the game in his side’s favour, turning to the likes of Emil Riis and Ched Evans off the bench.
Freddie said: “We knew the importance of getting three points today so at one stage we had four strikers on the pitch and we’re pushing hard.
“Norwich know what they have to do. They have to come here and not lose the game and that’s what it was.
“It was difficult and I thought towards the end we looked a bit leggy, a bit tired, and it’s all the games catching up on the lads. It’s difficult and it just wasn’t enough for us today.”
With the gap now at eight points with four games to go, the task of getting into the Play-Offs has become a whole lot harder, but the aim now for the rest of the campaign is clear.
“As a professional you’ve got to play for your pride now,” added Freddie. “I’ll be doing that right until the end of the season and trying to pick up as many points as we can to try and finish the season on a high.
“No matter if it’s four games to go or if it’s the middle of the season, we have to recover quickly. Hopefully we haven’t picked up any knocks like we have done the past few weeks and we’ll go down to Southampton, and who knows?
“We’ll try and pick up three points and hopefully get as many points as we can before the end of the season.”
