Keith Keane could not hide his disappointment as Preston North End drew 0-0 with Play-Off chasing Leyton Orient.
Russell Slade’s side travelled to Deepdale looking to extend their unbeaten run to seven games, but were lucky to return to London with a share of the points having been second best to the Lilywhites all afternoon.
Jack King had an effort from distance tipped onto the underside of the crossbar midway through the first half with what proved to be the closest either side came to a goal during the match, and Keane was left feeling aggrieved that the Lilywhites had not managed to secure all three points.
“We should be happy, but I actually feel a bit gutted after that,” Keane confessed. “I feel we had three or four good opportunities that we should be scoring so I think the lads and I are all disappointed that we haven’t come away with a win.
“Kingy did everything but score today. It was one of those days for both him and the lads.
“On another day he could have had a hat-trick. He’s got to now put that behind him and hopefully he’ll get on in the next game.”
Having not started any of Preston’s last three matches, Keane returned to the starting line-up in place of Paul Connolly for the clash with Orient, after the on-loan Leeds United defender suffered a family bereavement during the week.
While his return to the starting XI might not have been courtesy of footballing reasons, the former-Luton man revealed exclusively to PNE.Com he was pleased to start the game and hoped he had done enough to keep his place for Friday evening’s visit of Portsmouth.
“All I want to do is to play football,” Keane said. “I’ve been working hard in training and hopefully I’ve done enough today to stay in the team, but I won’t know until next week. We’ll see what happens.”
The 26-year-old acknowledged after the match that the Lilywhites had taken their time to get going against Orient, but although he reaffirmed his belief that North End were unlucky not to win, Keane admitted he was pleased to have kept a clean sheet.
“Sometimes it can take ten to 15 minutes to get going and get used to the conditions,” Keane explained. “We’re not blaming the conditions but after the first 15 minutes I think we got used to the weather and the conditions and I think we dominated for large parts of the game.
“As a defender myself it was good to get a clean sheet. First and foremost it is what you want, you want clean sheets, and then you can focus on winning the game so I’m really happy that we didn’t concede today.”
Keane concluded by praising the Deepdale faithful after they braved poor weather conditions to support their side on what was a blistering cold day in Preston.
“The fans were fantastic,” Keane declared. “Even when we’ve been under-performing this season they’ve still stuck behind us.
“We appreciate it massively. I can’t tell you how much of a difference the fans sticking with us makes.
“We’re just trying to keep performing and pick up results for them, like today. They were right behind us today and we’re gutted we couldn’t get the win for them.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to pick up a win for them in our next match against Portsmouth.”
Preston North End would like to send their condolences to the Connolly family following their bereavement earlier this week.