Preston North End extended their run of Championship clean sheets to six, however couldn’t find a goal at the other end, as they played out a 0-0 draw at the Cardiff City Stadium.
The hosts had the better of the chances overall, with captain Joe Ralls coming closest for the home side in the second half as he struck the post, but North End again showed their strength in defence to keep out the Bluebirds.
PNE so nearly had a late winner, courtesy of a Cedric Kipré defensive header which hit his own woodwork, but the ball somehow stayed out.
Ryan Lowe made one change from last weekend’s draw at home to Watford, with Greg Cunningham starting in place of the injured Andrew Hughes.
It was the hosts who started brightly and had three efforts at goal inside the opening ten minutes, with the best of them being Perry Ng’s strike from just more than 20 yards out, which landed inches wide.
PNE’s first real foray forward came on 12 minutes, with Troy Parrott and Daniel Johnson linking up well, and the former tried to pull the ball back for onrushing bodies, but Ng got there first to put it behind for a corner.
Cardiff were the side on top in the first half, ending the opening 45 minutes having had 13 shots, but the manager didn’t wait until the break to make a change, as he brought Emil Riis on in place of Johnson on 35 minutes.
The Bluebirds had a couple of shouts for a penalty early in the second half, both of which were waved away, before a North End counter saw Riis fire a low shot wide of goal.
Skipper for the hosts, Ralls then had the best effort of the game so far on 52 minutes as he curled a first-time, left-footed effort against Freddie Woodman’s post.
A double change for North End then saw Ali McCann and Ben Woodburn introduced, and the latter played a brilliant ball over the top to Parrott who took the ball down well, however his shot was blocked by a defender.
North End were left wondering how they didn’t take the lead in the 86th minute, as Potts sent a cross into the box, and Kipré – facing his own goal – headed against the post, and the ball then hit goalkeeper Ryan Allsop before being cleared.
Niels Nkounkou tested Woodman in the closing stages, but he made sure he left South Wales as the first PNE goalkeeper to have started a league season with six clean sheets.
Cardiff City line-up: Allsop; Romeo, Ng, Kipré, O’Dowda (Nkounkou, 45); Sawyers (Whyte, 90+2), Vaulks, Ralls (Rinomhota, 70); Philogene (Harris, 70), Watters, Colwill (Ojo, 88), Subs not used: Alnwick, Simpson.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Cunningham; Potts, Whiteman, Ledson (McCann, 63), Brady; Browne (Woodburn, 63), Johnson (Riis, 35); Parrott (Evans, 78). Subs not used: Cornell, Bauer, Slater.
Attendance: 17,922.
Referee: Mr A Woolmer.