Watford boss felt his side should have won the game but backs Preston North End to be near the top of the Championship

Neither side could break the deadlock at Deepdale, despite both sides having the chances to, meaning Edwards was forced to leave Lancashire with a solitary point.

Both sides could have bemoaned their finishing after the game as chances fell both ways. Freddie Woodman was forced into a save when one on one and Daniel Bachmann in the Hornets’ net made several saves to keep PNE at bay.

Edwards, who was appointed Watford head coach this summer, felt his side had the better of the game but was still full of praise for PNE.

He said: “We possibly could have won it, I know they had some chances as well but we probably had the better ones and probably a few more of them.

"I'm under no illusions, it wasn't a one sided affair in terms of chances. I do think we had some really good ones.

"That's five clean sheets in a row now for them in the league so it's clearly a difficult place to come.

"We had four big chances so it's disappointing to not come away with the three points.

"Bachmann made some good saves and he's done that on a number of occasions, I keep singing his praises, he's been great again.

"He's doing his job and doing it very well.”

North End gave as good as they got at Deepdale and Ryan Lowe’s men extended their run of clean sheets to start the season to five, a new club record.

It was something that Edwards was aware of when bringing his side north from the capital.

Watford’s aim for the season is to win promotion back into the Premier League at the first time of asking but the 39-year-old expects to see PNE at the top end of the table too.

"They're a good team, they have good players and a good way of playing about them as well,” he said.

"You can see because the game went to-and-fro at times. We had moments of control and they did, the shapes cause each other the same types of problems.

"Outside centre backs can get time on the ball but then if you go in they can pop it round the corner and they get the time on the next man.

"They find the spare man well. They had a big chance early on after about four minutes where we didn't lay a glove on them, but after that we didn't allow them to play through us too often which was pleasing.

"They can do it, they showed that. I like them and they're extremely difficult to break down - it's an incredible start with no goals against after five games.

"I know there will be frustrations for them that they haven't scored but they're a good team, I think they're going to be right up there.”