The John Smith column: North End boss Paul Heckingbottom has returned Deepdale back to its fortress of old
With Burnley's defence having been such an extraordinary hard nut to crack recently prior to this game starting I was thinking that maybe a 0-0 draw was the best result we could hope for .
On the flip side of this though I knew from experience that all such records in football are eventually broken so buoyed by a fine midweek performance at Norwich I entered the stadium also believing that getting three points was not beyond us.
The last time the Clarets had conceded a league goal 10 games ago on December 21, Santa Claus and his reindeers had still not departed from the North Pole to bring our Christmas gifts.
Likewise there were also no presents handed out in this hard-fought game which similar to the reverse fixture at Turf Moor also ended goalless.
It was a typical rough and tumble derby tussle which kept both sets of passionate fans on the edge of their seats.
After the game at Burnley, I felt a bit aggrieved after we had what I thought was a perfectly good goal disallowed but this time I left the ground thinking that maybe a derby day decision had at last gone our way when the visitors appeal for a late penalty was rejected by the referee.
Had it been awarded it would have been tough on our valiant defence who had defended resolutely in keeping a third successive clean sheet in eight days.
I was again impressed by Lewis Gibson who in my opinion looks future captain material.
However on this occasion like the sponsors I would also have given the man-of-the-match award to loanee Ryan Porteous whose solid no-nonsense style of defending was for me a major factor in keeping Burnley at bay.
The result meant that we have now lost only once in 15 home league matches under Paul Heckingbottom who has seemingly returned Deepdale back to its fortress days of old.
Also we have now only lost three out of our last 17 games which had that form been replicated earlier in the season would of seen us sitting in or around the play-off positions in the league table.
The full blooded intensity seen in this game has probably ensured that we are set for another lively encounter when we meet again in the FA Cup a week on Saturday.
To quote the words used in a famous after match interview by former Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan, "I’ll tell you honestly I will love it if we beat them, love it!”