Well, that was uneventful and dull, to say the least, so I won't dwell on the details for too long and it will be quite short.
Me and my brother made the 2 hours and 20 minutes journey across to Lancaster to watch this game and we should have stayed at home: it was boring, cold and wet. Probably one of the worst away days and performances of the season, however, you cannot expect us to play at a high level every game; we are expecting games like this. Also, at least it was not a loss and we are still unbeaten in 5.
The stadium was nice, at least, and it is another one ticked off my list.
Rosenior made no changes to the starting line-up which drew to West Bromwich last week, save for Regan Slater replacing Omur. Also, Christie and Ohio were back on the bench, but Connolly and Traore did not make it. That meant we lined up as follows, in a 4-3-2-1 formation: Ryan Allsop in goal; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Ryan Giles holding the fort; Tyler Morton and Jean Seri below; Philogene and Anass Zaroury on the flanks, Fabio Carvalho leading the flock and Regan Slater just behind him.
From the off, we were the better side: holding the ball, pinging it around neatly and controlling the game. However, the hosts were not out of the contest and used their time on the ball well; Ben Whiteman went close twice early on after slicing his effort wide of the target and having another crack moments later, but it was tame enough for a comfortable save to be made by Allsop.
After this, it was all us and it was the captain Lewie Coyle who had the first good chance for us after his powerful volley, which went wide. Then, Carvalho had two better opportunities just after; from a similar position as his goal last week, on the edge of the box, he struck cleanly and forced a great save from Woodman, who parried it away for a corner and he also found himself in a great position on the end of a cross, but headed it at their keeper.
The best chance came from the hosts on the 45 minute mark after Miller, arguably their best player, although Coyle had him in his back pocket all game, picked out Storey, but he headed it over. Neither team were able to break the deadlock and the first half ended goalless.
After the break, it was more or less the same as the first half, however, Preston looked the better side, who wanted the three points more. They had a couple of decent chances within the first 30 minutes: Hughes headed over the bar, Whiteman had a shot deflected narrowly wide and Emil Riss was thwarted by a smart save from Allsop after the ball was just about to reach him.
However, the best chance of the game came towards the latter stages and we were very lucky that they did not score; Whiteman, again, shot inside the box and it was goalbound, alas, it skimmed the post and went wide. The home fans were off the floor, half celebrating, only to sit down again and hear us jeering at them.
Our only chance of the second half - the only one of our three shots on target - came in the last 15 minutes; Philogene received the ball outside the box, smartly beat his men and tried to curl a low shot into the far left corner, however, incredibly, Woodman was able to prevent it with a fantastic stop. The game faded after this and it became a tedious afternoon.
At the end of the day, it is still a point, however, due to West Brom winning on Friday night, they are three points in front of us again and Norwich won too, which puts them just one point behind us. If we do not start turning these draws into wins, it could prove to be costly at the end of the season, which would be a shame as we have been working very hard and playing some amazing football.
Fortunately, we go again on Tuesday night against Birmingham, at home, but they have just been beaten 3-4 by Southampton in the last minute, so they'll be after a response. I'm not going to let this dampen my spirits and I still have confidence in the team to finish in the top six. Please don't prove me wrong.