18 February 2007
Preston North End 1-3 Manchester City

David Nugent set Preston on their way, but City were resilient and wrapped up a comfortable 3-1 victory.

Hello readers,

Unfortunately I can't talk about a victorious FA Cup game against Premiership team, as I so desperately wanted to, but instead I'm forced to look back on a disappointing defeat and an FA Cup exit - which is never easy.

Things didn't really go for us during the game, I think at 1-0 Michael Ricketts had a great opportunity when he was put through. Nicky Weaver made a good save and then Richard Dunne has followed that up with a fine block, and I think that if we could have gone 2-0 up there we would have been in the driving seat.

To lose Ricko and be forced into changing things around, I brought Patrick Agyemang on, just didn't help us. We weren't as positive during that period I don't think and the game started to go away from us.

It seemed a little like the pendulam was swinging away from us, and that can be difficult to turn around when the momentum shifts. I don't think it's only in the Cup competitions that that is the case, I think it happens in the league and certainly all of our games coming up are, in my mind, Cup finals that we need to win - in those type of games there are going to be very small margins that decide the winner, and that was certainly the case against City.

We had a really good atmosphere at the ground, it was laid back but passionate, both sets of fans were noisy and our supporters got right behind us. Everything was set up for a fantastic day, unfortunately as it turned out it was set up for Manchester City to have that fantastic day and not us.

It was still a great day for the club, we managed to make some money that will help us in the long term, we had a full house at the ground and the game was on BBC. We've not lost out when you take everything into account, we've enjoyed the run we've had in The Cup and as everyone says when they are out of The Cup, it's time to concentrate on the league.

I don't think we could have been any keener to get into the Premier League, but when you taste the sort of occasion we were part of on Sunday and you get a sample of what it could be like if we can achieve promotion, it just reinforces why you want to be there. With the crowd in full voice and playing against the very best players, if we could get promotion we would have that 38 times a season, so we're going to give it everything between now and May to get there.

I have to be honest, when we went out I didn't even bother watching the draw because I had to prepare my players for the Norwich match on Tuesday evening. But looking at it now City have been handed a tough draw away to either Blackburn or Arsenal, I'm sure they'll go and give it their best shot. They are very well drilled defensively and if they can keep it tight then they have the players who can go and get goals for them.

Still carrying the disappointment from the City defeat the players had to pick themselves very quickly for the game with Norwich, they had a cool down on the pitch and then they were back in first thing on Monday to prepare for that game. We managed to get a victory and start ourselves off once more in the right direction.

In the second half we showed some signs of tiredness, but by that time we had fortunately got ourselves into a very good position with some great play. Going into half time at 2-0 up we were looking to push on and score more goals, andwe missed a chance just after the break to go 3-0 up which changed the game a little.

They dominated the game in the second half and made it very difficult for us, and in the end we were clinging on to earn the three points - but at this stage of the season that is all that needs to be done.

Pavel Pergl had a very strong debut, which was pleasing, he is a very good footballer and a strong defensive type of player. He got his reward on Tuesday for all the time he spends after training working on his finishing, he hit a great 25-yard effort right into the bottom corner.

There is no let up as we're travelling down to Cardiff on Thursday and then training there on Friday morning for another live TV game on Friday evening at Ninian Park. It's another tremendous game for us, and the following game is live again when we play host to Southampton, so we're having our share of televised games at the minute.

We're just making sure that we take care of our own game in the next few weeks and I'm sure that other results will follow suit. It's amazing how results go for you when you're winning your own matches.

Speak to you soon,

Paul Simpson