Preston fan Tim Mercer baffled by his team's poor display at Wycombe

This fell firmly into the ‘very poor’ category to go alongside that dreadful home loss to Blackburn back in November.

It contrasts sharply with some excellent results such as those away wins at say Reading or Brentford; clubs at the top end of the Championship table as opposed to rock-bottom Wanderers.

Speaking of the Chairboys, they showed the kind of desire and hunger exemplified by their manager Gareth Ainsworth in his fond-remembered days at Deepdale in the iconic Coloroll shirt.

The scoreline did not flatter them in any way as they battered North End; going 2-0 up in under 10 minutes and cruising with the addition of a third inside the half-hour mark.

Emil Riis won and converted a penalty shortly before the break, but in truth the game was done with yet another early FA cup exit to add to those of recent seasons.

Alex Neil brought on a couple of experienced heads for the restart, with Alan Browne and Paul Huntingdon replacing Tom Bayliss and, I have to say, a very poor Josh Earl.

I take no pleasure in pointing out it is not the first time this season he has been caught out and may well be one of the un-named players Neil lashed out at in his post-match interview.

He was not the only player to under-perform, with Jayden Stockley yet again showing no sticking-power up front and looking a poor bet now at Championship level along with a few others given a chance in a team of seven changes since last time out.

By the time the hosts added their fourth and final goal in the latter stages, I for one could not wait for the referee to blow that full-time whistle and end our collective New Year hangover.