John Smith's PNE verdict - Get cheque book and pen out after another blankety blank

However this time out neither side became "King Of The Jungle " when the two teams played out a goalless draw.

Following the efforts of a new supporters group North End Soul together with the PNE Online Forum, the teams came out to a sea of flags as "White Hot Deepdale" became engulfed in a carnival atmosphere but it is a pity that their hard work in organising this could not be rewarded by sending them home happy with a win.

The fans in a bumper crowd did their best throughout to lift the team but it is a two-way thing and the players have to lift the fans as well.

A few days ago Peter Ridsdale said that he thought our squad was stronger than last season and I suppose he could quite easily put a positive spin to back this up by comparing the two results.

We fielded eight players on Saturday who had played in the corresponding fixture a year ago and these were supplemented by five summer signings.

While I agree that the signing of a permanent keeper in Freddie Woodman was great business for the club, the other two full-time newcomers have been free transfers and the two loanees Troy Parrott and Álvaro Fernandez are, in my opinion, at this moment in time not better than Cameron Archer or Sepp van den Berg as they will need time to settle.

Since the summer we have seen the departure of 15 players plus three loanees with another two transfer listed and not in the manager’s plans.

These 20 players have been replaced by just six although Mr Ridsdale did include Bambo Diaby as a seventh new signing even though he arrived here during the January transfer window.

I am personally disappointed we have not been able to sign more players especially after such a massive cut in our wage bill.

While I appreciate that money is tight due to financial fair play I think that so far it seems to have been a case of make do with what you've got for manager Ryan Lowe who I feel now faces an uphill battle to bring success to the club on such a limited budget.

Pre-season I was worried about a lack of pace in our defence but the centre back three, in particular the returning Jordan Storey, have looked solid which must be taken as a positive.

However, Wigan and Hull are two sides I would not expect to be challenging for the top six this season and similar to last week we lacked that bit of extra quality to break down an average side who put plenty of men behind the ball.

I think we have the nucleus of a good team if it can keep injury free but most fans can see that we desperately need a quality right wing back if we are going to make Lowe's system work and that will cost money.

After two games of blankety blank I feel that the powers that be need to take stock of their opinion about the strength of our squad and get that cheque book and pen out before the transfer deadline passes.

If we don’t then all the impetus gained from the club’s fantastic season ticket deal will be lost if a large number of fans get disillusioned after another season of nothing.