Joe Rafferty thought Preston North End were the better side and unfortunate not to take all three points from their visit to the John Smith’s Stadium, being held to a goalless draw by Danny Cowley’s side despite their domination of possession.
Alex Neil’s saw more of the ball in both halves with chances to win throughout the contest, particularly right at the death with opportunities for substitutes Scott Sinclair and Sean Maguire, while Declan Rudd had an especially quiet afternoon at the other end of the pitch.
Speaking to iFollow PNE after the game, Rafferty confessed that he and his team-mates perhaps could have been more creative at times, but still felt the outcome was harsh given their performance in West Yorkshire.
“I thought we played quite well in a probably not-that-entertaining game really, but we controlled the game and I thought we were unfortunate not to win,” he said.
“We could have created maybe a little bit more but at the end of the day I thought we were the better team by far.
“I think he [Rudd] had one shot to save, quite an easy shot. We had a lot of possession, we probably needed to create a little bit more but it’s been hard coming back since lockdown, normally you have a lot more time to get back to the way you were technically.
“We’ll keep trying, we’ll keep working hard and we’ll try to hopefully get a goal soon.
“I felt on the pitch we were strong defensively, each one of us, not just the back four but the whole team defensively I thought everyone put a shift in and limited the amount of chances they had.
“We’ve just got to do as much as we are defensively going forward and really take the game to other teams and I think once we do that we’ll be able to score and be able to kick on.”
North End could have led before stoppage time, when perhaps the two greatest chances for the visitors fell for Sinclair and then Maguire, Rafferty adding that a touch more composure could have seen one of those chances win the game for the Lilywhites.
“At the very end, I think most of our chances fell and just a little bit of composure – I know it’s late in the game – but just a little bit more composure and that could have easily won us the game. It’s a bit unfortunate but it’s just one of them things really.”
The North End No.15 added that the team can’t look further ahead than the next game as they concentrate on getting that first victory on board.
“We’ll keep working as hard as we possibly can and we’ll keep going for it and we’ll keep trying to get that win. It will come, we can’t be too down, we’re not looking any further than the next game and we’ll just keep going and hopefully get a win on Wednesday.
“We’re just dying to get a win on the board. Since we’ve been back, we’ve been working really hard but things aren’t clicking and that’s what happens sometimes in football.
“We can’t look too far ahead, we’ve just to play the next game Wednesday at Sheffield Wednesday. It’s a tough place to go but we thrive off tough places to go and hopefully we can go out there and get the win.”
Watch more Raff on iFollow PNE above.