Ryan Lowe was pleased with the way his side defended crosses into the box in the opening day draw against Wigan Athletic.
Preston North End took a point from the DW Stadium in the first game of the Championship season, with neither side able to find the elusive opener.
Troy Parrott and Emil Riis both had great opportunities to break the deadlock in the first half, while the majority of the home side’s chances came from set pieces or crosses into the box.
Ryan told iFollow PNE: “We said to the group at half-time they had loads of corners, loads of shots, that’s how they work it.
“If you give silly fouls away, they’re dangerous with their set plays, we knew that and we stood up to it in the first half.
“We said if you don’t give too many away in the second half you’ll be fine, and we thought we could obviously get a goal, but it wasn’t to be today.
“It was a fantastic following from the fans, great again so we appreciate that.
“It’s a point. If you can’t get three points, we can’t lose them. We spoke about that, especially this season in the Championship, if you can’t win the games away then certainly don’t lose them.”
North End were frustrated to not have gone into the half-time break a goal to the good, given three big opportunities created right at the end of the half.
New man Parrott was sent one-on-one with goalkeeper Ben Amos, who denied the Spurs loanee, before Emil Riis’ follow-up was also kept out.
The Danish forward then struck the bar from the resulting corner, with a downwards header being flicked towards goal and onto the woodwork.
Ryan added: “I thought we played some fantastic stuff. If Troy’s shot goes in or Emil’s one even [the game changes], the keeper’s made a fantastic save, and there was one where I think it was Liam Lindsay heads it down and it’s hit Emil on the knee and hit the bar.
“Everyone would have liked three points today, especially with all the fans, they would have loved three points, but what I will say is [there may have been] a lack of quality sometimes in our approach to it, but there certainly wasn’t a lack of effort.
“The effort was fantastic; I said that to the boys in there. I thought maybe last season at some stages we probably would have buckled a little bit and maybe gone under, but I thought the defenders handled it fantastically well because it was a tough afternoon for us with long balls going into the box.”
PNE were backed on the day by over 4,700 supporters in what was a sold out away end.
While disappointed to not send them home with all three points, the manager is keen to return to Deepdale next weekend for the home game against Hull City and make sure his side takes maximum points.
Asked about the support, Ryan said: “Fantastic and they kept going for us. Their fans were quite loud and vocal which they’re going to be.
“They [PNE fans] were there in their numbers, I just wish we could have got them a couple of goals to celebrate, but it definitely wasn’t for the lack of trying, so hopefully we sent them home pleased.
“They’d have been more pleased with three points obviously, like every single one of us.
“It’s a point to open the Championship campaign. It's a point away from home and if you win your home games, get a good result next week then it’s a good start.”