Lancashire | Preston North End miss out on chance to go into top two

Preston North End 0 - 0 Bristol City

PNE and Bristol City shared the points in a goalless Championship draw, a contest that offered chances at both ends but ultimately lacked a decisive finish.

Author | Josh T

Stadium | Deepdale

Preston defend a free-kick

Anis Mehmeti, who had scored in each of his previous three games, twice threatened for the visitors during a first half they largely controlled. Preston, however, went close themselves through Lewis Gibson and Milutin Osmajic, while goalkeeper Daniel Iversen preserved their clean sheet with a superb late save to deny Mehmeti in the 88th minute.

The result leaves both clubs in the play-off places. Bristol City steadied themselves after their setback against Oxford United, while Preston extended their unbeaten league run to three matches.

A closer look at what happened

Another view from the stands

Mehmeti might have opened the scoring early on when he latched onto Zak Vyner’s cross, only for Iversen to turn his low shot away. The Robins continued to press, with Mark Sykes forcing another sharp intervention after his effort was deflected towards goal.

Preston responded before half-time as Andrew Hughes teed up Gibson, who was twice denied by Radek Vitek’s alert goalkeeping. Mehmeti remained a danger after the interval, shooting wide from Ross McCrorie’s pass, while Osmajic dragged a shot narrowly off target from Alfie Devine’s delivery.

Scott Twine had a late free-kick cleared, and Adam Randall fired over, but neither side could find the breakthrough.

The Bristol City perspective

1,334 Bristol City fans in the away end

After the match, Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber told local media: "I think performance-wise it was really good. The boys realised in the end we had really good chances to win the game. I thought we had many battles on the field, which is what we would expect.”

Terry, a Bristol City season ticket holder, was in the away end and gave his thoughts on the draw and performance. He said: “That was a good performance from the players and we probably deserved more than one point. However, we’re in a good position and we would have all taken this position at this point of the campaign.”

One fan replied on Twitter/X: “Defensively, best team we’ve played. looked very solid , we were creatively very good. Step forward from the Oxford game. Just need to be more clinical.”