PNE supporter John Smith’s column after defeat to Bristol City

The Deepdale faithful became the victims of some belated Halloween mischief, with our five match unbeaten league run unfortunately coming to an end - after we suffered our first home league defeat under the tenure of Paul Heckingbottom on Saturday, with this 3-1 loss to Bristol City.

With the visitors also on an unbeaten run of seven matches, it was never going to be an easy task to get a much needed win. It was made much harder when the away side took the lead after just six minutes, with one of the most controversial goals I've ever seen in all my years of watching football at Deepdale.

For me this goal felt similar to the punishment a cantankerous home owner might have received a day or so later, after shutting the door in the faces of some mischievous "trick or treaters". I thought that the visitors’ forward, who ran the ball into an empty net after he had patted the ball away from keeper Freddie Woodman, would have been far more suited to playing for the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team - rather than an EFL Championship one.

In scenes reminiscent of the ones seen in the aftermath of the Diego Maradona’s "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup, just like Peter Shilton, our goalkeeper chased the referee up the pitch in disbelief that he had not spotted the blatant handball. Similarly, though, it was all to no avail as unbelievably he continued to point to the centre circle to signal the goal.

While the goal will probably not be remembered by many for as long as that one, it most certainly changed the dynamics of this game. The way Bristol City stifled any of our free-flowing play after they scored was of such a high standard, they would of undoubtedly won the Olympic gold medal - had time wasting been an official sport in this year’s Paris games.

Our fans were certainly fired up by this frustrating behaviour and at times were far more vocal than they had been in some recent games, with the Town End in particular making a huge effort to get behind their team. When Sam Greenwood scored his third goal in as many games in the opening minutes of the second half, the crowd briefly rocked like old times.

However, their enthusiastic spirit was understandably dampened when the visitors went upfield and re-took the lead a couple of minutes later. It was a game I thought illustrated our lack of strength in depth in a couple of departments - particularly on the striking front, with Emil Riis playing as a lone forward - looking very much isolated and subdued .

When the visitors increased their advantage with 10 minutes to play it delighted "The Cider Army" and there were plenty of "Ooh Are Ooh Are" coming from the jubilant fans in the away end - who also made references to fire drills as some of our disillusioned fans began to file out of the ground.

Although we continued to huff and puff, we never ever really looked like getting back into the game. After this disappointing result I also felt like joining our visitors from the West Country, by singing along to The Wurzels and downing some of the apple-based alcoholic drink in order lift my low spirits.