Tim Mercer's PNE Fans' Panel verdict: North End look like they are in limp-home mode

Despite taking the lead in the first half, in truth North End did not deserve to win and might count themselves a wee bit fortunate to come away with a point.

Stoke arrived only two points from the dreaded dotted line and in mixed form.

Whilst Preston are generally considered to be in mid-table safety, only one win in the last five has reduced our gap to seven points.

A morale -boosting win to get to the magic 50-point mark was the order of the day and would have been a good way to forget about a very poor performance in the midweek defeat away to Derby.

At least we witnessed Kaine Kessler-Hayden finally break his goalscoring duck, although it relied on a deflection from a defender’s outstretched leg to wrong-foot the keeper as it trickled home.

It meant a lot to the on-loan youngster from Aston Villa, as he treated us all to a backflip in the sunshine before running over to our stand to finish off with a jubilant punch towards the crowd.

Stoke came out for the second half determined to get back into the game and came close on a number of occasions as they dominated the play.

Only a combination of some good goalkeeping and last-ditch defending kept the Potters out until a soft penalty was awarded for an alleged foul by Liam Lindsay.

In real time it appeared Lindsay had perhaps tried a half-hearted push on his man who went down all too easily.

Replays only reinforced this view, but the visitors needed points and equalised from the spot. It has to be said that it was the least they deserved in terms of scoreline and they pressed in the closing minutes to take all three points back down the M6, before the relief of the final whistle.

Despite Paul Heckingbottom’s assurances that he doesn’t want ‘to limp home’, this fan can’t wait to see the back of this season and a serious attempt at a rebuild to take place over the summer.

Limping home is exactly what it feels like and a clear win at home on Tuesday is needed to shake off this feeling.