Alan Irvine is taking the squad to La Manga tomorrow for a four-day training camp to help fill the 16-day gap between games during the international break.

Judging by the sorry show in Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Watford at Vicarage Road, PNE boss Irvine needs plenty of time on the practice pitches to get them going again.

North End slipped to 11th place at the weekend, and since the away victory at Leicester City on September 26, have won just one of their seven games.

Their return to action after the international break couldn't be tougher, with table-toppers Newcastle visiting Deepdale two weeks' tonight.

Then it's back-to-back away games at Blackpool and Cardiff City who are fifth and third respectively in the table.

Irvine said: "We've got two weeks to work on things, respond to the defeat at Watford.

"It's my job to make sure sure we recover from it, make sure we learn our lessons and improve on it.

"We were very poor on Saturday – the first half was awful and we were second best all over the pitch.

"The second half was a bit better but we couldn't have been any worse than we had been, it was a poor performance.

"Watford scored early but we were struggling before the goal, we started the game poorly.

"It was unacceptable, that is for sure.

"It is rare we play like that, if it's not rare then we have real problems.

"We can only win games in this division by being properly organised, by everyone knowing their job, doing their job and competing.

"Unfortunately we didn't do those things at Watford. It's very difficult to take too many positives out of that performance.

"Watford played very well and deserve a lot of credit.

"We were fully aware of what they were capable of doing, aware of the passing game they like to play now.

"I'd told our lads that if we didn't match their energy and movement, then Watford would give us problems.

"They certainly did that and we didn't do our jobs.

"At half-time I could have made a whole load of changes. I was hoping for a response in the second half.

"There was a response but it didn't prove to be good enough."

Richard Chaplow was missing from the squad on Saturday, Irvine revealing it was a hamstring problem rather than the shoulder injury he picked up the previous week which had kept the midfielder sidelined.

Said Irvine: "Our club doctor travelled with us with the intention of giving Chappy a pain-killing injection in his shoulder before the game.

"Chappy had done the full training session on Friday but on the way down to Watford on the coach felt his hamstring.

"We gave him a fitness test on Saturday morning but he failed that.

"I didn't travel on the coach on Friday because I went to watch Derby play Coventry.

"I got a call to say Chappy had this problem so it meant things had to be changed round a little bit."

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