A proportion of the blame must land at the Bristol City manager's feet

Well, it was a case of would've, could've and should've on the opening day of the season away at Preston North End's Deepdale Stadium.

Building up to the game I would've taken a point, however, by the end we could've and should've taken all three. Unable to make the trip north I had to rely on a limited radio reception, mobile Internet and telephone updates from friends.

At 2-0 up with 10 minutes to go, I thought it was a done deal and that I could celebrate a cracking start to the new season. I should have known better. Checking the Internet one final time after 5pm, I was gutted to see that Preston had not only pulled one goal back but had managed an equaliser in the 96th minute of injury time.

So what went wrong? How did we let a two-goal lead slip? Well, from the reports I have listened to and read and comments from fans who made the trip, it would appear that a certain proportion of blame has to land at the feet of the manager as well as the manufacturers of the referee's stop watch.

The question has to be asked of Gary as to why he decided to make three substitutions when we were in such a commanding position.

Paul Hartley has been excellent in pre-season and carried this form into the season opener. He is away with Scotland next week, and will miss the Cup game away to Brentford, so Johnson had no need to save his legs.

The further substitutions of David Clarkson and Danny Haynes must also be questioned. Gary has a habit of settling for results as opposed to pushing on for a more emphatic victory and it would seem that this came back to bite him.

With all that said, at 2-0 with eight minutes of normal time to go, all eleven players on the pitch should have had enough nous to come away with the victory.

However, I'm sure not even the Preston fans would have envisaged the ref playing six minutes of injury time when only four had been signalled.

Now I'm sure that throughout the season these things even up and that we will score a winner or get the equaliser right at the death but that doesn't make this any easier to take.

For me this is one area of the game, which could easily be improved. Why can't the fourth official be responsible for the time keeping? The man in the middle has enough to do. The fourth official could have a device linked to the stadium display, which would stop every time there is a stoppage in play and fans, managers and players could see exactly how long was left.

Still, a point away to a Preston side that have made the play-offs for three out of the past five seasons is a reasonable point and now we move on to a tricky away Cup tie at Brentford.

Griffin Park is an intimidating little ground and Brentford have over the years proven to be somewhat of a thorn in the side of City.

We have had some decent results on the past few trips up the M4 and, while it won't be easy, I would expect City to make it through to the next round.

Team selection will be interesting with Paul Hartley, Jamie McAllister and David Clarkson all away on World Cup duty with Scotland and Christian Ribeiro, James Wilson and Lewin Nyatanga all away with Wales.

There is also our goalkeeping situation. I am sure that money is not the only motivator behind Adriano Basso's decision to turn down the clubs new contract offer and seek a move elsewhere.

However, I don't think that he is capable of playing in the Premiership as a No 1, week-in week-out and am very disappointed in the lack of loyalty that the Brazilian has shown.

Gary Johnson took a bit of a gamble signing Adriano from non-league and playing him ahead of a then popular local lad.

With Scott Murray, David Noble, Dele Adebola and Michael McIndoe having moved on, and the likely departure of Lee Trundle, I would expect City to make a couple more signings. I think we still require wide men on both wings and a powerful centre forward. If City are to make the end of season promotion shake-up then the squad is still a little short in quality and more signings are needed.