Every word Paul Heckingbottom said on Milutin Osmajic's 'bite', Sam Greenwood's red and Blackburn Rovers draw

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom had no complaints over Sam Greenwood’s straight red card, in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Blackburn Rovers.

The Lilywhites had to play more than 45 minutes with ten men, after the Leeds United loan man was sent off for a strong challenge on Lewis Baker. Greenwood flew into the challenge on half-way, right in front of the dugouts. PNE were reduced to ten men just before the break, but still had chances to win the game. And in the closing stages, it became ten-versus-ten as Blackburn loan man Owen Beck saw red for a late foul on Duane Holmes.

“Yeah, watching it back I can see why it’s a red,” said Heckingbottom. “At the time, I thought he won the ball and it was a yellow card. He probably does, but Baker’s leg gets trapped underneath it. If they are reds, that’s fine, but we just want to see that consistency. No problem with that, but I saw a far worse tackle than that in the Sunderland game yesterday - and they ended up with 11 men and won the game one-nil. I think they are pretty easy ones to get right.

“I just said that I probably need a conversation (with Greenwood) and I will have a proper chat with him about it. I definitely don’t want to take that out of him - it’s a skill and tackling is a part of football. He has certainly got the tenacity and the mentality to go and win the ball back. It’s about doing it effectively. There is no malice in the tackle - you can see that with how he goes. He leaves the ground, but is on the floor when he touches the ball. The penalty is for his body coming through the back of Baker’s leg and you can see that. If that’s it, fine, we know we can’t tackle that way.”

The two red cards were not the only incidents late in the day. With the Lancashire derby broadcast on Sky Sports, TV replays showed PNE striker Milutin Osmajic appear to bite Beck - prior to him being shown a red card. Heckingbottom didn’t have a great deal to say on that front, post-match.

“No, I’ve not seen it or spoken to John (Eustace) or anyone about that,” said Heckingbottom. “I’ve just been told there, when I did the Sky interview. Listen, all I can say is that there is no place for that and we know we can’t do that. Mistimed tackles, things like that are part and parcel of the game - you accept them. Anything that is not, we know how that’s dealt with. But, I have not seen anything so I am just going off you saying there has been an incident. I’ll wait and see what happens.”

All things considered, Preston’s boss was content with the result and performance. Ben Whiteman and Brad Potts came close to winning the match late on for North End, but both defences came out on top in the end. Heckingbottom’s game plan had to change at half-time and he was satisfied with the way his players carried that out. Moving forward, he is confident there’s more to come from the team.

“I’m really pleased with the performance and was probably more frustrated with the first half, than the second,” said Heckingbottom. “I saw lots of good things in the first half - how we controlled the ball and how we built up the pitch. We just missed so many opportunities to play the little forward passes which would’ve really hurt Blackburn. I can see it and I am really pleased with lots of it, but it’s really frustrating me. I cannot be critical, because when I watch it back I know what I’ll see. We controlled the first half with the ball, without having enough opportunities or getting in behind enough.

“Second half, we controlled the game in a different way - without the ball. In that respect, it probably hurt Blackburn a little bit because they’ve been the best counter attacking team in this league so far. All of a sudden, we took the counter attack away with how we defended. So, we managed the game much better and were the ones then winning free-kicks, playing territory and it allowed us to get a lot more restarts, a lot more set plays. I’m pleased with the point and frustrated it’s not three, but there are reasons why it’s not three. So, overall I have to be happy.

“The team talk changed at half time, from the bits I felt we needed to improve on after a strong performance - throw them out of the window, we will deal with them next week now. It was then about those ten players on the pitch and what that looks like in the second half. I think (Ali McCann) was probably happy we had a man sent off! It suited him down to the ground. All his strengths, as a footballer and character, he probably brings them to the fore in a game like that.”