preston north end 1 Stockley (15) nottinGham forest 1 Grabban (pen, 5)
Preston boss Alex Neil felt his side had missed a golden opportunity after being held by play-off rivals Nottingham Forest.
North End were unable to make the most of a dominant second-half display after Jayden Stockley had cancelled out Lewis Grabban’s early penalty. The result still lifted them back to within two points of the play-off places – and coming against the fifth-placed team it was a creditable draw – but Neil felt it should have been more.
Neil said: “I wouldn’t say we are pleased. They had one shot on target and that was the penalty.
“That shows how well we defended. Then it was about converting opportunities.
“They get a lot of players behind the ball and are difficult to break down, so we made it hard for ourselves. But we got the goal back and pushed to get the next one. Unfortunately we couldn’t convert any of those opportunities.”
Forest claimed the early initiative after Ben Pearson fouled Nuno Da Costa in the box. Grabban calmly tucked home his 20th goal of the season from the spot.
Stockley’s equaliser 10 minutes later was a wellworked strike, but the rest of the game was a tight affair.
Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi said: “It is a good point and a good performance. I think it was a fair result, a good result.
“I am happy for the boys because they never give up.”