Preston North End were made to settle for a point in an entertaining goalless draw at home to Nottingham Forest.
North End had the better of the chances, with Cameron Archer arguably having the pick of the bunch in the second half, but they couldn’t quite find a goal to break the deadlock.
It was Ryan Lowe’s men who had the first meaningful effort of the game, with Ched Evans curling a shot just over the bar from 20 yards inside the opening 15 minutes.
Andrew Hughes, starting at left wing back, then came close shortly after as he got on the end of a Ben Whiteman corner, and his header appeared to be helped over the bar, but a goal-kick was the decision.
Forest’s first chance of note came on 26 minutes, with Keinan Davis attacking down the left before cutting back for James Garner, who saw his shot comfortably saved by Daniel Iversen.
Ethan Horvath was next to be tested, with a sharp counter from PNE was started by Brad Potts and ended with Alan Browne, as his low left-footed strike was saved low by the ‘keeper.
The sides went in goalless at the break, but Archer had two good chances to break the deadlock within ten minutes of the restart. First, Horvath was equal to an effort from just inside the area, but moments later Archer was again through on goal, this time slotting his effort wide of the ‘keeper’s left-hand post.
North End’s No.21 was heavily involved in a lot of the home side’s attacking play, and he was again in the midst of the action with 15 minutes to go, seeing his cross deflected into the air and over the top of the goalkeeper, but the ball landed agonisingly wide.
PNE kept pushing for a winner, with Brad Potts coming close himself late on, but the points were shared at Deepdale.
PNE line-up: Iversen; van den Berg, Bauer (Earl, 53), Lindsay; Potts, Whiteman, Browne, Johnson, Hughes; Archer, Evans (Riis, 74). Subs not used: Ripley, McCann, Rafferty, Ledson, Sinclair.
Nottingham Forest line-up: Horvarth; Worrall, Cook, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Colback, Garner, Lowe; Johnson, Davis (Surridge, 81). Subs not used: Smith, Figueiredo, Zinckernagel, Mighten, Cafu, Lolley.
Attendance: 12,598 (2,308 away).
Referee: Mr G Eltringham.