John Smith's PNE Fans' Panel verdict: On retro shirt day, we could’ve done with a Sean Gregan-type

With regards to our survival hopes, although the casket of our coffin is not yet closed this catastrophic defeat – which left us one point off the drop zone – is a massive nail in it .

A Herculean effort is now needed in our last match of the season at play-off-chasing Bristol City with only a win definitely guaranteeing an 11th successive season of Championship football.

Before Saturday's game kicked off, assistant manager Stuart McCall had called for the players to stand up and be counted. I personally was a little apprehensive but felt that with Plymouth having only won one game on the road all season, despite our current run of poor form the task of getting at least a point from this fixture ought not be too difficult .

I also thought that if by full-time we ended up in the relegation mix, the situation would be one of our own making.

Argyle’s eventual victory meant that since the season’s high of a first FA Cup quarter-final appearance since 1966 in the last week of March, we have taken only two points from our seven league games in April.

With the exception of Leeds, the other six games have been against sides who were below us in the table.

While I agree to a certain extent with the manager that some of the officials’ decisions have gone against us, it is no real excuse as I feel that as a unit we have simply not been good enough in them.

We have been unlucky with injuries and have missed the tenacity of Ali McCann and strength of Brad Potts. But injuries have always been part and parcel of the game and if you do not have adequate replacements in all departments, in my opinion this only illustrates the folly of going into the season with a weaker squad than the previous one.

We began the match quite brightly but after Argyle had scored with their first attack of the game, we were always chasing it. We had the lion’s share of the possession but as has been the problem in some recent games, we could not convert any of this into goals and created very few clear-cut chances while always looking vulnerable on the counter-attack.

The manager paired Emil Riis and Milutin Osmajic up front but the combination, which had been ineffective when tried in the past, was more or less the same again, although Riis did score a late goal which proved to be just a consolation, as by then Argyle had added to their first-half strike and doubled their advantage.

It was retro shirt day on Saturday and looking around at some of the old shirts on display, many from the good old days of the Baxi era, I could not help thinking that we could have done with the help of some retro players from these times on the pitch too.

We desperately missed the passion and leadership qualities of a Sean Gregan-type, although my man of the match Robbie Brady showed the desire and will to win of an experienced senior prof as he tried to encourage some of the other players.