Alan Irvine was understandably left feeling frustrated after Darrel Russell's injury time winner stole the points for Norwich at Carrow Road.

Although the Preston boss accepted that it wasn't North End's finest performance of the season, he admitted that the timing of the only goal of the game was cruel on his team.

Speaking after the game, Irvine said: "I thought we started the game well and then we lost our way a bit in the middle of the first half. We finished the half fairly well and I didn't think we played well when in possession in the second half. We've been playing better than that but I also felt that we looked solid and really our goalkeeper didn't have much to do until Jamie Cureton came on.

"I'm disappointed overall at the way that we played, we have been playing better, but obviously I would be sitting here a lot happier had we managed to go back with a point.

"I felt it was very harsh because it looked like it was going to be a draw and the first thing that Glenn said to me after the game was that we didn't deserve that. It's fairly easy to say that but I appreciated it.

"It's probably as hard to take as any, we've been steadily getting better, we've been on a nice little run and the game was probably looking like it was going to head for a draw. It's a bitter pill to swallow.

"Credit to Sean St. Ledger because he has been playing right-back recently but with Youl Mawene being both suspended and injured, Sean went back into the position he likes best and he and Liam played very well together."

Moments before Russell hit the winner, substitute Brett Ormerod had the opportunity to put Preston in the lead with an effort that was well saved by David Marshall. Had that gone in, North End would have almost certainly taken all three points instead of their opponents.

Irvine added: "It just shows that the margins are so fine. Nearly all the games that we have won or lost have been decided by one goal and this is another one. We had a good chance at that point, I'll have another look at it again and I don't want to criticise Brett at this moment but I'm not sure if he made the right choice. That was the difference between us winning 1-0 and losing 1-0."

One positive that Irvine can take from the game is that Billy Jones got through the entire match unscathed after missing the early part of 2008 with a hernia. However, Callum Davidson picked up a thigh injury midway through the first half, forcing a re-jig in the backline once again.

"Billy did very well, especially to get through the whole game. He obviously had to conserve his energy to some extent because he had been out for a considerable amount of time.

"You never like to have to make changes because of injury and you hope that all your changes will be tactical. Certainly at that point it meant that Billy was going to have to play the whole game and it was difficult to ask him to make as many forward runs as I would normally ask. It was a blow but injuries are a part of football, you have to accept that and have to adapt.

"Matty Hill has been waiting for his chance to get back into the team after missing out through suspension and we've generated a situation here where if players get in the team and play well, they will stay in the team."

Chris Brown missed the opportunity to play against his former employers through suspension having been sent-off in the midweek victory over West Bromwich Albion. Irvine added that his absence from the side at Carrow Road came as a blow.

"He was a big miss because he's been playing very well for us. He came down anyway, which was nice and straight away he said that he wanted to travel. But he was bitterly disappointed that he didn't get the chance to come and play."