Josh Brownhill was glad to have put in an impressive performance but was disappointed with the final result as Preston North End drew 0-0 with Sheffield United at Deepdale.
The 18-year-old started alongside Neil Kilkenny in the centre of midfield and played a pivotal role as the Lilywhites dominated possession and the rate of chances against the Blades.
The former Manchester United trainee was rewarded for a display beyond his years by being named Sky Bet’s man of the match, in front of a national audience.
“I’m just happy to have had a good performance and it’s even better that it’s on TV,” Brownhill told PNE.Com in an exclusive interview following the match.
“But I think we all played well, as a team, I just think that we needed to push that little bit harder for the goal.”
The Lilywhites had a bunch of penalty shouts waved away by referee Geoff Eltringham, including a clear handball by Blades skipper Michael Doyle, and failed to convert any of their five shots on target.
Brownhill believes North End were unlucky not to have beaten Nigel Clough’s side and pointed to Sheffield United’s strong defensive tactics as a reason for Preston’s inability to make a breakthrough.
“I thought we were a bit hard done-by, we had a lot of chances to put the game to bed which we should have done,” the midfielder said.
“Maybe a penalty as well which we could have had but we knew they were going to be hard to break down, they drop behind the ball and there were a lot of men behind it.
“But we just couldn’t get that bit of luck that we haven’t been getting lately but no I thought we played well, we just couldn’t score.”
In the absence of John Welsh and Keith Keane from Simon Grayson’s starting line-up, 21-year-old Bailey Wright was named North End’s captain on his 100th appearance for the Club.
And Brownhill, who, like Wright, came through Preston’s youth system, admits the Australian defender is someone he is keen to emulate.
“He’s come through the youth team, he’s a great player and he deserved the captaincy today as well,” he commented.
“He had a solid performance, kept a clean sheet and I look up to him from being younger and hearing stories about how hard working he is and he’s just a great player.”