Losing to your arch-rivals isn't enjoyable at the best of times.

Losing to your arch-rivals in this fashion, with a second half display that was non-existent, is as depressing as it gets.

Even God was against us. Blue sky and sunshine – it didn't even rain on the visiting fans in the east stand!

People throughout the town have spent the last month telling their North End supporting mates how many they were going to stuff them by.

Going into work this morning can't have been pleasant.

And here's the thing. Preston deserved to win.

Blackpool played well, but only for 35 minutes.

Then it was if someone pressed a button marked 'Blackpool off, North End on'.

The Seasiders stopped playing and the visitors took over.

They were on top for the last few minutes of the first period and for every one of the 45 played after the break.

The sparkling home form of last season appears to have disappeared.
This defeat was the fourth of the campaign – that's as many as Pool lost throughout the whole of last season.

The alarm bells are beginning to ring. Granted, they're tinkling only gently but much more of this and they'll be deafening.

The league is so tight that a couple more defeats in the near future and Blackpool will find themselves in trouble.

And what makes it most worrying is the calibre of the sides below them.

Many of those clubs – Crystal Palace, Watford, Norwich – will probably go on a good run at some stage … which means Simon Grayson's side have to be very careful they don't get stuck in a rut.

They need to get back to picking up points sharpish, particularly at home.

A few defeats, of course, doesn't make the Seasiders a bad team.

They haven't suddenly lost the art of being a decent outfit. They still are. They just need to get their confidence back and we can only hope that this derby defeat gives them the kick up the backside they possibly need.

Perhaps victories at Birmingham and Watford went to their heads. Maybe the players aren't as good as they think they are. The last two games, miserable losses to North End and Ipswich, certainly suggest so.

And you never know, next week's contest with Wolves, when Pool will be written off before a ball's been kicked, might just be the kind of pressure-free environment in which they can kickstart their revival.

As for this contest I just hope the team hurts as much as the fans.
If any of the players doubted how much it meant to the supporters they only had to listen to the reaction at full-time.

I've never heard Blackpool get booed off while Grayson's been in charge. Yesterday they were. It was harsh, but very understandable – and if it provokes the right reaction among the players then it will have done some good.

The manager couldn't have chosen a worse way to celebrate three years in charge.

He must have felt ultra-confident before kick-off, an eagerly-awaited derby, a sell-out crowd, the feelgood factor created by the late capture of former England star Lee Hendrie.

Alas, by the end Grayson looked as gutted as he's been in any of his last 1,136 days as Blackpool boss.

Hendrie – not match fit after a miserable spell in Sheffield United's reserve team – was among the substitutes.

Adam Hammill started in place of the injured David Vaughan, the only change from the Ipswich game.

And initially it all went to plan.

On a beautiful day and buoyed by a cracking atmosphere, Grayson's men went straight on the frontfoot and created chances.

They should have scored with barely five minutes gone. Adam Hammill – starting for the first time since September 13 and the home win over Barnsley – forced Andy Lonergan to parry a free-kick from 20 yards.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher nipped onto the loose ball but was denied by a brilliant recovery save from the Preston keeper.

However, even if Lonergan had been twice as sharp and three times as tall, he could have done nothing about Hammill's 10th minute opener.

It was a super goal, the winger fed by Alan Gow, taking one touch to get the ball out of his feet and lashing an unstoppable rising shot into the top corner.

The crowd went wild, Pool had made a dream start.

It was their first goal against North End at Bloomfield Road since – and here's a blast from the past – Lee Philpott slotted past Tepi Moilanen at 8.22pm on December 20, 1997. More than a decade ago but worth the wait.

The home side kept up the tempo and pressed and probed, creating other half chances.

Keith Southern shot too high after good work by Gow and Ben Burgess, then curled a free-kick into the wall.

Hammill, belief restored by his goal, volleyed narrowly past the upright. Taylor-Fletcher was so confident he even spent five minutes
playing in his sock, his boot lost up the other end of the pitch after an over-enthusiastic attack.

But just when it seemed all was going to plan, the tide began to turn.

Preston bossed the final minutes of the first period – Paul Rachubka saving Neil Mellor's header; Richard Chaplow sidefooting wide of an empty net after a miscued Rachubka clearance; and the Seasiders keeper part fumbling, part pushing Chris Brown's shot around the post.

A dodgy end to the half but no one was too concerned. North End didn't seem to offer much threat and, even more heartening, Pool were kicking the 'right' way second half – towards the packed north stand.

It made no difference. Right from the restart, the visitors pushed their opponents back. Pool didn't even get close to the north stand.

Preston equalised on 55 minutes when the impressive Sunderland loan winger Ross Wallace delivered from the left and striker Brown nodded in from six yards.

After a scrappy, disjointed period, though still with PNE on top, North End went ahead on 69 minutes.

This time Neil Mellor applied the finishing touch, climbing above Ian Evatt to power a header past Rachubka.

Grayson – well aware his team were second best – had already replaced Gow with Steve Kabba. Now he hauled off Keith Southern and Gary Taylor-Fletcher to give Hendrie a debut and to see if fit-again Stephen McPhee could rescue the situation.

The answer was a resounding 'no' as Preston increased their advantage 12 minutes from the end.

Pool's backline, which has looked markedly less solid in recent weeks, was again spliced open and Brown had the easiest of tasks to convert Mellor's cross.

All three goals came from the left – Shaun Barker will not be a happy man.

In fairness Pool battled to the end and Hammill deserved another goal when he cut inside and curled a beauty of a shot just past the post.
It wasn't to be though and the home fans had resigned themselves to defeat long before Premiership ref Mike Dean blew up.

A hugely disappointing afternoon but although this will be hard, forget it. It's gone.

What matters more – just about – is survival. The most important thing now is to make sure the hangover from this painful defeat doesn't linger.

Points on the board are required over the next few weeks and the main thing is to ensure that when Blackpool get their opportunity for revenge at Deepdale at Easter, they go into the game well-placed and safe in the Championship.