PNE must start winning games says goalkeeper Freddie Woodman

PNE saw two efforts cleared off the line but failed to find the net for the eighth time in 11 Championship games so far this season.

Although the North End ‘keeper, who has now registered eight clean sheets in the league, which is the best in the division, admits that a point in the North East is a good one, more is needed as his side continue to struggle to pick up wins.

He said: “At the start of the season we would probably have taken a point here. We would have liked to have won the game, it kind of felt like two teams, in the end, that would take a 0-0 and move on.

"I thought we created some chances, I thought we had a couple cleared off the line and they had a few moments as well. When you come to a place like this and you get a point and a clean sheet it is good but we need to start winning.

“It is a bit of a missed opportunity. If you look at the chances, on another day we probably come away with the three points like we did at Coventry City but in saying that, you come to the Stadium of Light and you get a 0-0 it's normally good. But where we are in the league we need to be picking up three points.”

Woodman was up against an old friend at the weekend, in the shape of Black Cats winger Patrick Roberts. The pair played through the England youth setups together but both find themselves relatively new at their respective clubs.

Woodman left Sunderland’s rivals Newcastle United in the summer to join PNE whilst Robert joined his current side initially in January on a short term deal before extending it in the summer after winning promotion.

The North End stopper was backed by 2,532 travelling fans and was full of praise for the support. Preston fans filled the top tier at the Stadium of Light as they played in front of 41,225 in total – their highest attended game since playing Newcastle in 2017 (50,212).

Woodman said: “I've grown up with Pat since I was a youngster, he's a proper player. He's got moments of real quality and I thought the lads did a good job on him, Greg Cunningham kept him going down one side well. He's going to get shots away because he's a top quality player but I was happy to deal with it.

“The Sunderland fans don't like me, I probably don't like Sunderland as much, but fair play to their fans. To play at a place like this, when there is that many in the crowd, it was a proper atmosphere. Fair play to Sunderland. I thought our travelling fans were fantastic as well.

"I really didn't expect them to fill out the top end like they did and it was really special. I was gutted that we didn't get anything for them because they sung our hearts out for 90 minutes.”