Goalless draws seem to be all the rage at Deepdale at the moment as Saturdays 0-0 draw against Scunthorpe was North Ends third in a row at home with the last opposition goal coming on the 21st January against Leyton Orient in a 2-0 defeat 4 home games ago with Hartlepool, Walsall, Chesterfield and now Scunthorpe failing to get past a strong defensive line up which is looking the strongest it has in many years. However in these 4 games we have only scored just once with a Danny Mayor screamer late on against Hartlepool.
That said however, on Saturday we looked a lot more likely to score than we have done at all since Westley came in, aided no doubt my a first start for Iain Hume since he was injured against Sheffield Wednesday on New Years Eve. As far as 0-0s go, I left the game feeling more positive about the team and having been rather entertained by a game which had everything but a goal. Chris Holroyd thought he had scored his first goal for the club, but his close range tap in was ruled out for offside and that would be the closest Preston would come to scoring but it wasn't the end of the chances with Graham Cummings and Andy Procter going close with headers and perhaps Procter should have done better after being unmarked from six yards.
As far as Andy Procter is concerned, the Jury is well and truly out. The new club captain has yet to have a serious impact since arriving from Accrington in January and has been mediocre at best it has to be said. However I am not ruling him out as he has only been at the club a few months however it seems giving him the captaincy was the wrong decision by Westley and perhaps someone like Hume or possibly Parry would be more suited to the role. Procter has shown flashes of promise, but has seemed to drift in and out of games, along with Coutts whose downturn in form has been worrying as he is the shadow of the player which he was at the start of the season and I have the feeling that he might be moved on in the summer which might not be a bad idea if this poor form continues and I would prefer to see someone like Nicholson starting instead of him tomorrow night.
After a dismal 0-0 on Tuesday where the players were booed off the pitch, Saturdays draw was received with less hostility as for 85 minutes Preston were the better team and on another day we would have been comfortable winners but for (once again) a lack of coherency in the final third. What's disappointing is the poor quality of the set pieces, we had numerous corners and free kicks (including one in the very last minute which I thought should have been a penalty) and the quality of the deliveries were poor and posed very little threat to the Scunthorpe defence when we should have been bombarding the area and creating chances and I can't recall a major chance created from a set piece during the game which is very disappointing but it is something that can be worked on in training and at least the team is looking more like a unit instead of a group of individuals, particularly in defence where Danny Devine and Chris Robertson were superb and it's fair to say that they've been the best defensive partnership we've had this season and hopefully they can build on this in the next few games.
Next up tomorrow night is when Preston travel to Prenton Park for the rearranged game to play Tranmere Rovers who have recently sacked Less Parry and brought Ronnie Moore back to the club. This game has been rearranged twice from the original date due to weather and internationals and it won't be an easy game due to the fact that Tranmere have a new manager and the players will be keen to impress him and make sure that they don't get relegated at the end of the season, but this is something that will be on the minds of the Preston players as well as we aren't safe yet and the last thing any of us want is to be dragged into a relegation battle as League 2 would be a complete disaster for the club. However I really doubt that will happen as I expect us to drift in mid table for the rest of the season then the serious rebuilding can begin in the summer in preparation for next season.
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