Report | Preston North End 0 Swansea City 0
Swansea City picked up a point on their travels with a hard-fought draw against Preston North End at Deepdale.
In a game of few clear chances, Liam Cullen, Lewis O’Brien and Jisung Eom went closest for the visitors.
At the other end, Lawrence Vigouroux made saves to deny Brad Potts, Milutin Osmajic and Sam Greenwood as the Swans made it back-to-back clean sheets and three in their last four games.
It was a gritty showing against a Preston side who have not lost in their own back yard since November 2.
The Swans had shown an unchanged starting XI as Alan Sheehan kept faith with the team that started the win over Blackburn Rovers. The only change was on the bench where fit-again Joe Allen came in at the expense of Josh Ginnelly.
There was a frantic passage of play inside the first five minutes, with Cullen pouncing on a loose pass and surging into the Preston area.
The Wales international beat Freddie Woodman to his own touch ahead, and then got cleaned out by the advancing keeper.
The referee waved play on as Swansea appealed for a penalty, and the visiting defence eventually managed to crowd out Osmajic and Will Keane as they looked to break.
The Swans followed that up with a slick attack as O’Brien and Myles Peart-Harris combined to create space for Josh Tymon, whose cross was headed over, via a deflection, by Zan Vipotnik.
Swansea began to enjoy a good spell of pressure, Josh Key twice delivered well into the area, before Woodman gathered in a low O’Brien strike at the second attempt.
Preston responded and created a chance for Potts, who unleashed a fierce volley from Osmajic’s lay-off, but skipper Ben Cabango made an important block.
Key almost made an important challenge as Osmajic prepared to prod home from Keane’s flick-on just past the half-hour mark.
The Swans then lost Peart-Harris to a back injury – Eom his replacement - before Vigouroux made a fine recovering save from Greenwood, with Osmajic having brought down a long ball and squared a pass to his teammate as the keeper came off his line.
That ensured the game remained goalless at the break, but the home side should have had the breakthrough moments into the second half when Potts found Osmajic bearing down on goal, but the forward sent his low effort well wide of the post.
Preston had a scare of their own when Liam Lindsay just about managed to put a deflected Tymon cross wide rather than into his own net; the Swansea full-back having been found by Eom’s pass.
Vigouroux easily gathered in a Lewis Gibson header as the hour-mark approached, before Harry Darling cut out a threatening cross and Cabango blocked Robbie Brady’s fierce drive.
Ryan Ledson also saw a shot blocked for the hosts as his drive was met by a host of advancing black shirts.
Eom then came agonisingly close to the opener as he cleverly sent a free-kick under a jumping wall, but saw the ball just roll the wrong side of the upright.
Darling bravely got his head in the way of Kaine Kesler-Hayden’s firmly struck effort from the edge of the area as the game entered its final 20 minutes, before Vigouroux made a good save to deny Potts’ angled shot across goal.
Vigouroux made another vital stop when Osmajic pounced on a stray backpass; the keeper sticking out a foot as the striker looked to round him to secure the Swans a valuable point.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango (captain), Harry Darling, Josh Tymon; Lewis O’Brien (Ollie Cooper 87), Gonçalo Franco; Ronald, Liam Cullen (Jay Fulton 76), Myles Peart-Harris (Jisung Eom 40); Žan Vipotnik (Florian Bianchini 76).
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Joe Allen, Cyrus Christie, Kyle Naughton, Hannes Delcroix.
Preston North End: Freddie Woodman, Liam Lindsay, Will Keane (Emil Riis 60), Ali McCann (captain) (Andrew Hughes 69), Robbie Brady (Jayden Meghoma 60), Ryan Ledson (Ryan Porteous 60), Lewis Gibson, Sam Greenwood, Milutin Osmajic, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Brad Potts.
Unused Substitutes: Dai Cornell, Ched Evans, Stefan Thordarson, Patrick Bauer, Theo Carroll.
Referee: Stephen Martin
Attendance: