Ryan Lowe was disappointed with the manner in which his side conceded twice in the defeat to Sunderland.
PNE travelled to the Stadium of Light on the first day of 2024 and started brightly, however Alex Pritchard picked the ball up in space on ten minutes and let fly beyond Freddie Woodman.
That lead was then doubled shortly before the break by Nazariy Rusyn, and North End saw plenty of the ball in the second half as they looked to get back into the game, but a breakthrough didn’t arrive.
The manager said: “I thought the performance in large parts was good. We had some large parts of possession.
“We created some decent enough chances. We had two good ones in the first half that went over the bar, and then to be undone in the first ten minutes by a goal from 35 yards out is very disappointing.
“We need to get up to the ball, we need to block it, we need to potentially try and save it.
“Then to concede two or three minutes just before half-time is a bit of a kick in the teeth because you think, ‘Okay, get in at half-time, they had a good bit of interchange, but we had some good moments.’
“Then second half we’ve had large parts of possession, but we just haven’t done enough with the ball to score.”
The defeat on Wearside comes following a loss on home turf against Sheffield Wednesday three days ago, which came after a superb victory over Leeds United.
The manager was hopeful that performance and victory would be a spark for his side to return to the form seen earlier in the campaign.
Ryan said: “The whole thing is frustrating at the minute. Win one, lose one. Win one, draw one, lose two. It’s not good enough, we know that.
“Hand on heart, we’re trying. We’re trying to give the players everything. We’re trying to give the fans everything.
“At this moment in time it’s frustrating because when you’re not winning games of football of course the sword lies with me. I’m the manager.
“But individually and collectively we need to take responsibility and I said that to the players in there because we can do a bit better.”
The final number of PNE fans present at the Stadium of Light are yet to be confirmed, but it’s thought around 700 made the journey for the early kick-off on New Year’s Day.
Ryan said: “I can only apologise. It’s frustrating for them as well as us.
“It’s that old cliché of you feel like you’re letting them down. As I’ve said many times, I’m a good bloke, I don’t want to let people down.
“We’re trying our hardest to get wins back on the board for the PNE fans.
“Them away fans, last year and now in the new year, at Deepdale, they’ve followed us home and away.
“They’re singing ‘til the end even today, rallying the lads on, we appreciate it.
“At the moment we’re going through a bit of a tough patch and we need to try and get through it as quick as we can.”