Eric Kinder spoke to us about the 5-1 defeat at the hands of Preston:

"It turned out to be a shocking day for us.

Credit to Preston because they were miles better than us. Every now and then you have to put your hands up and admit that you've been beaten by a better team.

They were quicker to the ball than us, they were more aggressive than us and they've got themselves a decent side together.

In my three years here it is probably the best team that I have seen play against us outside of the FA Youth Cup. I was really impressed with the way that they played the game and the writing was on the wall for us as early as 30 seconds.

They kicked off and put an 18 pass move together, and it ended in a goal. The first time we actually touched the ball was when we kicked off after that and that was because we were 1-0 down.

We never recovered from that and were 4-0 down within the first 15 minutes. We were staring down the barrel of a gun by then.

I have to admit that I was struggling with what to do. Not to make excuses, but we desperately need our second years to be fit. We've lost two of our stronger players in Davison and Cleary, and it's starting to have an impact.

We were down to the bare bones and, when you have had such a bad start, I looked at the bench and I only had two substitutes. It makes it very tough.

We have to take positives from it all and we reshuffled things a bit. We had to try and stop them from cutting us open and we managed to keep it at 4-0 until half time. I left it with Bowman up front by himself and I asked them to come out of it with a little bit of credit. The only one who had done that in the first half was Mark Gillespie. He was outstanding and if it hadn't been for him then I dread to think what the score would have been.

It sounds a bit empty but we drew the second half 1-1 and it is a scant consolation for us. Bowman got his goal when he bullied the centre half and pounced on an underhit back pass.

It was a good goal for him, but we were second best right through the game.

It was a poor display and I have a few concerns about the attitude shown by some of our players. They looked out of their depth and they will have to get mentally stronger.

Preston were a good side and I can't see them dropping too many points this season.

I think we are going to be in for a very inconsistent season. It's a very young side and we have to expect it. About 18-months ago I had the split right, with an equal balance of first and second years, but people moved on and we are now top heavy at the younger end.

That means that it becomes really tough when the older players are missing through injury, or whatever, as it leaves you with a lot of inexperience.

We possibly got carried away with ourselves in pre-season and perhaps started to think that we might be better than we are. Preston have totally dominated us and I saw our heads drop when we conceded the second. There wasn't an outfield player to get around and pick things up, and it all fell apart for us really.

When you get to half time and you are four goals down then it is generally game over. Drawing the second half is clutching at straws, but we managed it and we have to try and take something from it.

I asked them two questions after the game - what did they think of the team performance and what did they think of their own performance. They answered them for me, but I think they have said the things they think I wanted to hear.

Having said that, I know they have been hurt by this result. I was hurt as well, because it is embarrassing.

This is a different situation to any that I've been in before. I think we'll be really inconsistent, probably for a big chunk of the season. They are going to have to grow up quickly, and I think my focus will be towards next year from well before Christmas.

That way, when they all come back as second years they will be competing and giving themselves a really good chance of making it."

Team - Gillespie, Bonner (O'Brien 52), Cahill, Richards-Everton, Swinglehurst, Law, Wood, Towler, Bowman, Sloan, Osmond. Subs - Ball, Reid.