After a cagey affair at Deepdale, a point shared between Preston North End and Hull City means the race for the Championship top six gets increasingly tighter.
The Tigers will have felt like they were on the back foot for a lot of that game, however solid defending from the entire team proved vital to keeping themselves in the game. Preston put in a good account of themselves in their chase to close the gap between their opponents, althuogh didn’t do enough to put the game to bed, with many close chances coming at either end.
Hull ended up having the majority of the ball with 57% possession, whilst both teams had four shots on target. Ryan Allsop and Lewie Coyle come to mind when considering players who stepped up in an important game with both the goalkeeper and the skipper keeping the Lancashire side at bay.
The Yorkshire club had bright spells across the match but were never able to gain a strong enough foothold to take control of the match at any time. The best chances fell for Fabio Carvalho, who had three shots on target including an effort in the 19th minute from outside the box, which seriously tested the keeper.
Even though Liam Rosenior’s side had the lion’s share of possession, it felt like an uphill battle, struggling to play through a tight press from a motivated Preston side. The home side had the best chance when Allsop ended up taking too long playing out from the back, causing a quick turnover just on the edge of the box. The Lilywhites were able to get a shot off after the Hull defence rushed to amend the potentially calamitous error, however it ended up rolling just wide of the net.
Allsop made some impressive saves when called upon, including a late strike from Liam Millar outside the box which he parried just passed the second man.
Towards the end of the match, the hosts saw more of the ball and troubled Hull, mounting a series of counter attacks throughout the second period that almost saw them take the lead.
The story of the game was one of a hard-fought battle where both teams lacked quality in the final third when it mattered most. Rosenior spoke to Hull Live about the game and how every point matters:
“I’m going to bore you, but points accumulation in this league is so difficult so any point away from home is a good point.
“They showed me a brilliant spirit, the determination to press, the determination to fight, to defend set plays, to defend long balls in our box, that side of things is really good. Now we just need to up that quality level a little bit.”
Writer’s View
A point on the road to the play-offs against a club that are in excellent form is nothing to be upset about. However, the flurry of missed chances and overall lack of control that the players were able to execute on the pitch was slightly worrying. Going from George Moncur to Fabio Carvalho will always be a vast improvement.
As Rosenior said, it is on the players to bring the quality on the pitch, as the spirit they have is undeniable. Hopefully, the manager will start to see more from a very talented group of players. With Birmingham City up next, another team in revitalised form after taking on a new manager, the Tigers will be hopeful to get FA Cup revenge against a team who will be without imposing centre-back Dion Sanderson after he was sent off following a close fought game with Southampton.
