Nigel Clough has labelled the Burton Albion fans at Deepdale on Sunday as "incredible" as they saw their side fall to a first relegation since 1977.
Close to 2,000 Brewers supporters travelled up the M6 to see if Burton could pull off a miraculous survival act on the final day, having been seven points adrift with only four games to play.
They ultimately fell agonisingly short after Bolton Wanderers' late fightback against Nottingham Forest, with Albion having been five minutes from survival thanks to Hope Akpan's fine equaliser.
Clough suggested after the defeat at Preston North End that relegation felt even worse for his side having come so close.
And the Brewers boss knows what the Burton fans were put through on a dramatic afternoon in the Championship.
"You talk about our emotions, but the supporters emotions," he said.
"They were absolutely incredible and I sensed that, with five minutes to go, they knew it was on.
"I said to my wife I didn't want her to go, because the chances of it going the wrong way were greater than the other way.
"She said, 'what about Doncaster (in 2016)?' But Doncaster, the worst that happens is you go into the play-offs.
"It's win or bust. Being quite pessimistic, I was thinking with five minutes to go, you allow yourself a tiny little thing.
"She said she thought they were going to do it, everybody in the crowd thought we were going to do it.
"And that makes it harder for them as well. So if we'd have gone and lost 3-0, it wouldn't matter.
"I don't care if Bolton had won 2-0, it wouldn't matter.
"But having got back to 1-1 and playing against 10 men and pressing for a second goal which would've made it irrelevant if Bolton score, we just couldn't get it."
