Spook-tacular comeback was vital for North End, says fan John Smith

It used to be believed that people would encounter ghosts if they left their house during Halloween and this was certainly true for me on Saturday.

When Jordan Storey headed in our injury time winner it was like I had seen a ghostly visitation of otherworldly spirits from games last season against Sheffield United, Bristol City and Bournemouth when similar late goals had ensured some exciting grandstand finishes.

Apart from the midweek West Bromwich Albion match, this season’s home games have usually just petered out to dull conclusions so It was great to at last see some late drama in a game at Deepdale.

In what was our first Saturday home win of this season, it was also good to see us score twice and double our dismal home goals tally for what up to now has been a disappointing home campaign.

The early goal we conceded from a poorly defended corner was for me another shocker and worryingly this now seems to be becoming a bit of a weakness.

At that point especially with lone striker Emil Riis looking very isolated up front I could not see us getting anything out of this game and was beginning to get dark thoughts that this season could soon turn into a relegation scrap.

These ghoulish thoughts were eased a little when we settled down and grew into the game equalising 10 minutes before the interval when Riis belted in a fierce shot which arrowed its way like a thunderbolt of lightning into the top corner of our opponents’ net.

Boro were no great shakes and we managed to get on top in an end to end second half which was not really one for the football purists.

Like a persistent trick or treater we kept knocking at the door like to eventually receive our late reward.

In ancient times, Halloween marked the end of summer and the beginning of the dark cold winter the time of year which was often associated with death.

Despite my dark first half thoughts a glance at the table after this result shows that we are now eight points clear of the drop zone and three points off the play-off positions so it remains to be seen what lies in store for us this winter in this craziest of divisions.