The John Smith column: Late second half salvo by QPR turns Good Friday bad for North End
It certainly was not a Good Friday and more like a dark day for the Deepdale faithful after this depressing defeat.
The loss ended our long unbeaten home run of 14 league matches without defeat but it was the manner of how we lost it which I personally found hard to take.
In recent seasons when the clocks have gone forwards at the end of March our team has gone backwards.
Despite captain Ben Whiteman's pre-match talk about finishing the season on a high, this dismal defeat was I'm afraid to say more of a continuation of our recent poor form which has now seen us win just one of our last 12 league matches.
The injury-time goal which gave Rangers the win was like receiving a dagger through the heart but in all honesty I could not have any complaints after such a woeful second half display which was as poor as anything I've seen at Deepdale since we totally capitulated in a 5-1 defeat to Watford in December 2023.
In the first half, although Dai Cornell had to make a couple of decent saves, we seemed to be in control of the game ,even more so when Liam Lindsay headed us into the lead just before the break.
After the interval due to the general lethargy and sloppiness of our passing we made Rangers look more like their nearby Premier League neighbours Chelsea rather than the injury-depleted side who were below us in the table before kick off.
The ease of which they moved the ball through our midfield to get on the front foot was alarming at times.
I also found it disappointing that we did not manage a single shot on target during the whole of the second period.
Although we were still a goal up watching us cling onto the lead was a bit like watching a toddler in rubber arm bands desperately trying to reach the side of the pool while learning to swim.Therefore it came as no surprise when the visitors equalised 10 minutes from time.
As the game moved into the closing stages with there being no urgency in our play to get the ball into our opponents’ box I got the impression that we had already settled for a point.
The misplaced side pass from Mads Frojkaer which gave Rangers possession to set up their winner was typical of our sloppy passing.
When the goal went in our fans were rattled so much that it was like the valve had been depressed in the pressurised container of a spray paint can.
I had not seen scenes like this here since our opening game defeat of the season against Sheffield United.
The sight of disillusioned fans heading for the exit gates was a sad scene I have witnessed many times over the years at Deepdale.
They say that a poor workman always blames his tools but it takes a competent workman to realise that his tools are incompetent for the job in hand.
Hopefully something major might change in the summer and we can bring in some quality to arrest this continuous rinse and repeat cycle.