Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe felt his side were undone by refereeing decisions in 0-0 draw with Watford

There were two standout moments in the game for Lowe, both in the second half. Early into the half, Ched Evans went down under a challenge as he looked to break beyond the backline but was adjudged to have dived, receiving a yellow card.

Later on Ben Whiteman released Troy Parrott and as the Irishman tipped the ball beyond Ryan Porteous he was brought down, though referee Gavin Ward felt the defender managed to get something on the ball. The second moment in particular felt pivotal in the match, with a potential goal scoring opportunity lying in wait.

Lowe said: “There were two opportunities and I'll leave the rest to your imagination because you know what I want to say, but I'm not going to say it. We had two opportunities and on another day it might have been different.

"They're fouls, aren't they? Troy is through but what he should have done is stayed down, rolled over and screamed. I don't know if he's been too honest but it's a foul, isn't it? Just give the foul.

"I said to the ref coming off: 'I thought the inconsistencies in the fouls today wasn't great,' and I shook his hand and said well done. He said he'd have a look at it.

"It was for both teams, he gave some fouls that weren't and didn't give some that were. It's inconsistent. With Ched's, he's skipped it past him. Whether it's minimal or not, it's a foul. In my eyes, we had two opportunities where we're through potentially to get in the 18 yard box and were undone by a decision.”

The draw makes it five unbeaten for PNE in the league, with back to back 0-0 draws and three in their last four games.

North End were given time at Vicarage Road to operate in but could not find the key to unlocking the Hornets defence, though it was a positive performance from Lowe’s side.

He said: “I think you only have to look at the squad of players that they've got and what they've been doing, the goals they score. We knew we had to be solid and resolute today and I thought the game plan from minute one to minute 96 was fantastic. The lads brought it to fruition.

"There were a couple of chances, potentially on another day you can score but there were two opportunities for us really and we were undone by a decision that should have been a little bit different. I won't go in too much about it, I will talk more about the performance of the group which was fantastic again.

"To come here and get a point where probably no one would have given you an opportunity shows that we're a good team on our day that can keep the back door shut.

"We can also create opportunities, which we did, we just didn't have that cutting edge to put it in the back of the net today.”