PNE Fans' Panel's John Smith's review of the 2023/24 season

The manner of our four goalless defeats before this game had made me feel very despondent and I was also travel weary and more than ready for the season to end.

Our 3-0 loss at The Hawthorns meant that we ended the season roughly where I had expected us to finish before our campaign had kicked off in the August sunshine at Ashton Gate.

Prior to our opening game I had predicted that we would finish somewhere between ninth and 15th in the table.

After watching us battle to a 1-1 draw at Bristol City my pessimistic mind was transformed into one of optimism as we went on an unprecedented run winning six matches on the bounce.

Leaving the ground after our 2-0 win at Stoke at the start of September I heard a disgruntled Stoke fan saying: "Preston top of the league? The world’s gone mad."

For me it had, even though I thought we had been fortunate in some of these games, six wins and a draw from our first seven matches was a start beyond my wildest dreams and the best one I had seen in my 55 seasons of following PNE.

Walking up behind a group of excited young fans singing "we are top of the league" to the stadium before our game at Rotherham, an envious local scoffed at them saying "not for long". While this was hardly a prediction of Nostradamus proportions he was proved to be correct as although we preserved our unbeaten start to the season with a 0-0 draw, we were knocked off our lofty perch on top of the table after this match never to return to it.

In the following home game we were handed a massive reality check with a comprehensive 4-0 home defeat to West Brom.

In my opinion we looked heavy legged and sluggish in our next two away games against the division’s top two heads of state Leicester and Ipswich who would both be promoted at the season end.

The two further heavy defeats in both matches exposed our defensive weaknesses and attacking limitations as the automatic promotion dream began to fade.

After two home draws against Millwall and Southampton for me it felt like the "goose had stopped laying the golden eggs" following the defeat at Hull which meant we had taken only two points from our last six games since our unbeaten eight game start.

However in our next game at Deepale against my favourite opponents Coventry we recorded our historic 2,000th league win which propelled up the table and back into a play off position. We then managed back to back wins in what was probably the majority of our travelling fans favourite game of the season in the Friday night televised game at Ewood Park.

It was a game in which our skipper Alan Browne in the last months of his contract turned in another phenomenal performance topped by smashing Brad Potts sublime crossfield ball into the net for our opening goal.

After Rovers had equalised the game was won in the last minute with a diving header from Player of The Year Liam Lindsay a goal which was the catalyst for some frenzied celebrations by the travelling hordes many of whom will have awoke the following day with bruised limbs as well as hangovers.

After this elation in true North End fashion we followed it up with two dismal home defeats to Cardiff and Queens Park Rangers with a 4-0 midweek humiliation at Middlesbrough sandwiched in between.

The dourness displayed in these performances which lacked attacking initiatives led me to begin having serious doubts about the tactics employed by manager Ryan Lowe.

Our downward spiral continued with a last-minute loss at Swansea the week before Christmas. Unrest amongst the natives was increasing but then Lowe received what normally is the dreaded vote of confidence off the powers that be and amazingly on Boxing Day the pressure on him was eased by a remarkable home win against high flying Leeds.

If I had regained any optimism, it was soon shattered by two more scoreless losses to struggling Sheffield Wednesday and, on New Years Day, at Sunderland.

The return from the bench of Emil Riis in the home win against Bristol City was a big boost. Being without the Danish striker for a long perio had been a massive loss for the team.

A late-goal defeat at Leeds and a draw at Millwall widened the gap but two excellent home wins over Ipswich and Middlesbrough and a draw with Blackburn coupled with two very good away wins at Cardiff and Coventry in a fabulous unbeaten February run put us right back in the play-off mix.

But after our home defeat by Stoke, I always felt like we were swimming against the tide and would eventually drown in regards to reaching the play offs.

And despite wins against Rotherham and Plymouth, the gap was never ever closed to less than five points, and defeat at home by Norwich effectively ended our dream for another year.

Some of our fans thought we had donned the flip flops after this when we lost our remaining four games at Southampton, QPR, Leicester and WBA. I myself thought that besides the wearing of flip flops, we had played in dark sunglasses in our knotted hankies while also carrying our buckets and spades.

Next season will be my 57th attempt at seeing my team try to reach the promised land of the Premier League. With the departure of loanee Liam Millar and with our skipper Alan Browne also looking likely to leave, I’m even less optimistic than before last season and will go for a predicted next season position of 10th to 16th.

However, let’s hope that with some inspired summer signings we can aim for the moon and hopefully catch a few stars on the way down.