Preston North End and Huddersfield Town played out a goalless draw at Deepdale on Wednesday evening in an encounter that the visitors will be no doubt the happier of the two sides.

Carlos Corberan's side extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 13 matches but they certainly had to ride their luck at times, with PNE having the better chances and most of the possession in the final third in the second half.

The Lilywhites though just couldn't find the back of the net - although they did secure a fourth clean sheet in their last five matches.

 

 

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Let's take a look at what happened on a cold evening in Lancashire where both teams shared the spoils.

What happened?

There was little in the way of chances in the opening half an hour of the game but it was Preston who looked the likelier to open the scoring.

And the best chance of the first 45 minutes fell to Ched Evans, who failed to direct Daniel Johnson's low and hard driven cross into the back of the net, firing it straight at Lee Nicholls in the Huddersfield goal.

It was Cameron Archer who played the ball through to Johnson to start the move off and the Aston Villa loanee was very lively in proceedings.

There was multiple occasions in the second half where the youngster carved out a chance for himself with dazzling footwork but he just couldn't test Nicholls enough.

Huddersfield's best chance came on the counter attack early in the second half, but Alan Browne denied Danel Sinani what would have been a very clear sight of goal with a last-ditch interception from Sorba Thomas' cross.

PNE were the ones pressing in the final stages of the match and could have realistically had two penalties - Emil Riis was felled with seven minutes to go but referee Rob Jones was unmoved, and the Dane was again involved late on as his shirt was pulled by Harry Toffolo as he tried to execute a chance on goal.

Who stood out?

As a whole defensive unit, Huddersfield's back three were solid for the most part - aside from the times that Archer got his way with them before not taking his chances.

It was the PNE defence though that managed to keep some dangerous individuals in Danny Ward and the aforementioned Thomas quiet though, and it was Andrew Hughes and Brad Potts that probably impressed the most in that sense.

Hughes has been a consistent force all season at the back for the Lilywhites whilst Potts is really growing into his new role as a wing back under Ryan Lowe, and put in some dangerous crosses to add to his solid defensive work on the night.

Aside from that pair though, Archer was the man who won the man of the match award from Sky Sports and it's easy to see why - he had the Terriers defence bamboozled on occasion and he should really have gotten on the scoresheet.

What's the mood?

Huddersfield fans seemed happy to be getting out of Deepdale with a point after a late onslaught from the hosts that could have seen them win all three.

It was a differing view from the Lancashire side of the coin, with North End fans clearly frustrated that their many chances weren't taken and if they had, it would have closed the gap on the play-off places to just two points.