'Should've won' - Frank Lampard delivers verdict on Coventry City draw amid Preston North End credit

Coventry City boss Frank Lampard was ‘disappointed’ to leave Preston North End with a point on Tuesday night.

The two sides drew 1-1 after Daniel Jebbison’s volley into the top left corner cancelled out Andrew Hughes’ unfortunate own goal. North End spent the majority of the game one man down after Liam Lindsay’s red card, six minutes from half time.

He brought down Haji Wright, who was racing through on goal. The Sky Blues are top of the Championship, now five points clear ahead of closest challengers Middlesbrough. Lampard couldn’t hide his disappointment at the result post-match.

“It’s frustrating to drop points, because of the context of the 10 men,” said Lampard in the post-match press conference. “We clearly should’ve won the game. We didn’t defend the goal well enough and that’s the only moment.

“Other than that, they didn’t threaten the goal with 11 or 10 men, so that’s frustrating but it’s football... it’s Championship football for sure, and this is never an easy place to come. They grafted and made it difficult for us.”

While he didn’t want to make excuses, Lampard explained why his side found it difficult to break the Lilywhites down on the night.

“It wasn’t a pitch that was great to try and break low blocks in the second half,” said Lampard. “It’s not an excuse, it’s just a reality of bringing on Ephron {Mason-Clark} to try and dribble and go one v one. It was difficult in a way. We created enough to go and win the game and it didn’t happen.”

Lampard praised PNE’s performance and one of North End’s star men Daniel Iversen, who made an ‘incredible’ save to deny Victor Torp in the second half. He also said he had ‘a lot of respect’ for his opposite number Paul Heckingbottom and the rest of the club’s coaching staff.

“It’s a very tough place to come and when they go to 10 men, you’ve got too dig in, you’ve got to have that little bit of luck and good individual play,” said Lampard. “The spirit of their team is always good here because I think that leads down from the coach who I’ve got a lot of respect for, him and Stuart (McCall). That’s why they’re getting results.”

Your next PNE read: Paul Heckingbottom said after 10-man Preston North End's draw with Coventry City