North End left to pick up the pieces of this defeat to the Potters, says Preston fan John Smith

​Lowe was going toe to toe with his best friend and former assistant Steven Schumacher for a second time this season at Deepdale.

After watching an uneventful first half in which both sides struggled to get out of second gear, I thought the players could have adopted the aggressive style used by the Stoke boss’ namesake Michael during his heyday on the racing track as there were so few clear cut chances created at either end.

In the second half, both sides applied the throttle and stepped on the gas as the game finally opened up a bit more.

One of our day’s few positives came when substitute Milutin Osmajic rose high to head home an equaliser just minutes after we had gone behind to an unfortunate own goal.

It was our record signing’s fifth goal of the season with amazingly all of them coming in a second half at Deepdale in front of the fans in the Alan Kelly Stand who rejoiced in celebration by belting out the "striker from Montenegro" chant.

At this point I thought we were going to push on for the win but despite our possession and some neat approach play we could not create too much in terms of efforts on target and always looked vulnerable on the counter attack.

If the Andrew Hughes’ own goal was a case of "drat" then the visitors winner which came after his weak clearance agonisingly spun into the net off the shins of the Luke McNally.

It was definitely a "double drat" one of Dick Dastardly proportions.

With it coming so late in the game I also felt very frustrated and felt like banging my fist on the floor just like the cartoon character used to do upon realising his race was lost usually after one of his villainous schemes had gone disastrously wrong.

Referee Josh Smith, whose fifth appearance of the season at Deepdale must make him feel almost like a season ticket holder, did turn down a couple of penalty appeals which on another day may possibly have changed the games outcome.

However, I thought that we lacked a bit of zip with the visitors backed by a large vocal support seeming to want the win more and, in all honesty, I think that we only deserved to draw at best.

With our seven-match unbeaten run having come to an end after being "potted by the Potters", we must – like a broken plate or mug made in Stoke which is the world capital of ceramics – find the equivalent of some strong adhesive glue to stick us back together and pick up the pieces from this defeat.