Preston North End manager Simon Grayson was delighted once again with the character of his side, but disappointed not to take the win.
But a strong second half display from the Lilywhites left the gaffer wishing for more: “We are disappointed that we have not won the game,” he told PNE PlayerHD. “We started it well and had one or two opportunities; their keeper made some good saves and things didn’t quite drop for us in the box, but then you saw the quality that they had.
“They were counter-attacking against us and we had to make some good blocks and be brave against them. They had some real talent in their squad and have underachieved and we saw why.
“They passed the ball well, caused us a lot of problems, got the goal and we were very thankful to Chris [Maxwell] for making a good save just before half-time.
“It gave us something to build off, to try and go and get the win, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the goal to win the game, but it could be a valuable point come the end of the season, who knows?”
The turning point in the game came as the PNE boss made two half-time changes to the team and also altered the formation and he felt this was necessary to get a grip of the match.
“We looked at the system at half-time and felt we needed to change it around,” he continued. “We went to the 3-4-1-2 and that was no reflection on Andy Boyle and Daryl Horgan, who have had a real fantastic week, but we felt we had to get more pace into the team.
“We played some better stuff, asked questions of them and I think it was a tale of two halves. We are disappointed we have not won, because we want to try and win as many games as we can at this stage of the season.”
“We changed the system to accommodate an extra body in midfield, where I thought they were causing us problems, but we showed great character.
But with another home game on Tuesday night Simon believes that if his side can beat Bristol City, this point could look even better.
“We got something from the game and we are back at Deepdale on Tuesday and if we can get the result in that one it could be a good point.
“We were a little bit frustrated with Aiden before he scored, because he had a couple of opportunities to shoot and he didn’t take them, so we got the message on for him to get the shot off and it was nice for him to score and that’s what he can do, and why he has been so important for us.
“It was nice to see Baps back and effecting the game and Callum looked nice and lively and it was good to get an extra body into the midfield.