Skipper left deflated after defeat to PNE
Nathan Pond admitted that yesterday’s defeat at Deepdale was one of the hardest to take of his career after Town let a two goal lead slip against Simon Grayson’s side.Stephen Jordan and Josh Morris had given the Cod Army a dream start early on with two goals in the first six minutes, before a Joe Garner inspired comeback won the game for the Lilywhites.
However, it was a special day for the Preston born skipper nonetheless as he led his team out at Deepdale for the first ever league clash between the two sides.
And a deflated Pond said: “It’s very hard to take especially being 2-0 up at half time. The lads were all disappointed as I thought we played well.
“We’re working hard all week and come to matches and put everything into it, and most of the time we’re up against an extra man.
“It’s a strain at times. We do our best to prepare correctly but the 50/50’s don’t go our way.
“In the first half I thought the referee was alright, but in the second half the crowd got on his back and he got nervous.
“We conceded three goals which we were not happy about and we’re disappointed.
“They made a few substitutions at half time and went a lot more direct.
“Kevin Davies came on and was obviously a target man for them. He put himself about and picked up a lot of second balls which kept us pinned in there.
“They didn’t have a number of clear-cut opportunities though, just a lot of crosses and set-pieces which caused us problems.
“But six defeats on the row away from home is not good enough and we need to put that right.
“There was great vocal support from our fans and I’m disappointed for them because they didn’t deserve going to a stadium like Deepdale and not pick anything up.”