A bit more adventure and we could have beaten Stoke, says Preston fan John Smith

If Tuesday night’s game at Deepdale against Wayne Rooney’s Derby County ends in defeat then I will be flapping like a shirt on a washing line as we really will be in the brown stuff struggling to get those couple of points needed with just three games left to play.

In a tight game the first half produced little excitement and was typical of the many played this season in the sterile atmosphere without fans.

Although the Potters were the better of the two sides going forward our defence and midfield were as solid as some of the pottery made in the world capital of ceramics in stopping them from making a breakthrough.

Danny Iversen who has looked a very competent keeper throughout his stay here made a couple of great saves and he looks destined for bigger things in the Premier League in the not too distant future.

We had to wait until the sixth minute of the second half for our first corner but as the half continued we started creating some opportunities and became the dominant side.However, despite all this, it was another game in which we fired blanks and many of our failures over the past few months have come as a result of this.

We have now scored just 11 league goals in our 20 games since the New Year with three of those coming in the home game with Huddersfield.

It is something which needs addressing and although Ched Evans has done well since his arrival I think we are still short of a top quality striker.

I was also surprised we did not use this season’s leading scorer Scott Sinclair or loanee Anthony Gordon at all in this game both of whom I feel could of made an impact coming off the bench.

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