This is a warning for a Preston North End team cobbled together with loan players says Fans’ Panel’s John Smith

By the end of this game I could just about manage to remember how many goals we had conceded without the aid of an abacus!
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After collecting four decent points on the road it was back to the crumbling sandcastle of what was once Fortress Deepdale for the 11th – and heaviest – home defeat of the season.

The last time we had suffered such a home league battering against Portsmouth in February 1973 I was still in short trousers and hopping and bopping to the sound of Crocodile Rock at the top of the hit parade something I definitely was not in the mood for on Saturday night.

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If the win at Swansea had papered over the cracks a little, the manner of this defeat should serve as a timely reminder to the people running the club of just how much the current squad need quality additions just to compete in this league at this moment in time.

Ched Evans with Brentford’s Ethan PinnockChed Evans with Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock
Ched Evans with Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock

For me Saturday’s cobbled-together team full of loan players has shades of the Phil Brown side which was relegated in the first season of Mr Hemmings’ sole ownership and if things are not addressed in the summer, history might very well repeat itself. After a bright opening we were caught on the counter-attack, going one down inside the first 10 minutes.

Emil Riis had a piledriver bound for goal deflected but this ended up being our only shot on target in a game in which we were once again impotent as an attacking force.

After the Bees had gone into the break with a comfortable two-goal lead Frankie McAvoy did try to change things, going for a more attacking formation but this made us more open and as a result Brentford dominated the game even more.

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The Bees were certainly buzzing in the last 15 minutes when they added three further goals to their tally but I was alarmed at how easy they managed to waltz around our defenders who at times were so static they looked like cardboard cut-outs.

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