'As flat and as poor as we've been for a long time,' admits Wigan Athletic chief

Latics were off the pace for the first 55 minutes, with North End opening up a two-goal lead through Tom Barkhuizen and Daniel Johnson.

And only a combination of fine goalkeeping from David Marshall and some poor finishing from Preston kept the scoreline respectable.

Latics immediately rallied following the introduction of substitute Joe Gelhardt, who immediately laid on a goal for Chey Dunkley with over half an hour still to go.

But the home side were unable to force an equaliser, with Gelhardt forcing a fine save from Declan Rudd in the last minute.

After back-to-back wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds, Latics missed the chance to move out of the bottom three - leaving Cook in reflective mood after the game.

"I'm very, very disappointed with our performance," the Latics boss acknowledged.

"I thought in general it was as flat and as poor as we've been for quite a period of time.

"We didn't have enough players winning their individual battles all over the pitch.

"And it took until the last half an hour, for the kid to come off the bench, to provide a real spark.

"We then huffed and puffed and probably took a semblance of credit from the game with our honesty.

"But the game had gone away from us by their second goal just after half-time.

"Great credit to Preston, I thought they were better than us for long periods of the game, and in my opinion deserved their win."

There couldn't have been any more belief in the camp heading in, after the most productive week of the season to date.

But right from the off, Latics weren't at the races, being second to every ball and looking nervy in possession.

"I just don't understand it," admitted Cook.

"The first five or six things we did, I'm sitting there as a manager shaking my head.

"I think anyone who has seen a lot of us this season will know there is an inconsistency that makes us consistent.

"And unfortunately today that inconsistency has come out.

"Too many players didn't start the game, they started the game far more intense than we did, in more positive positions of the pitch than us.

"We didn't track runners, we didn't do other things...you can write lists of the things we didn't do.

"But as inconsistent as they are, their honesty will always shine through.

"They never lay down, they never accepted defeat, they kept knocking on the door - albeit in an honest way than an opening-up way."