Cardiff City vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
Cardiff City StadiumAttendance19,743.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Cardiff City and Preston at the Cardiff City Stadium as the Bluebirds missed the better chances in a goalless draw in South Wales.
Saturday 12 March 2022 18:49, UK
Cardiff missed the chance to climb above bitter rivals Swansea in the Sky Bet Championship table after being held to a 0-0 stalemate at home to Preston.
Swansea's defeat at Blackpool meant a victory for Steve Morison's men at the Cardiff City Stadium would have seen them leapfrog their near-neighbours in mid-table.
But a point apiece sees the Bluebirds remain 17th and North End stay 13th.
Neither side managed a shot until the 30th minute when Preston's Brad Potts fired straight at Cardiff goalkeeper Alex Smithies from the right of the 18-yard box.
The hosts did not trouble Smithies' opposite number Daniel Iversen at all before the break, with only two efforts of any note and both in the final minute of the half.
The first, from Jordan Hugill, was blocked by the imposing figure of Bambo Diaby and the second, from Alfie Doughty, was high over Iversen's bar.
Cardiff's Cody Drameh, on loan from Leeds, did his best to inject some drama into the contest early on with a lunging tackle on Andrew Hughes but referee James Linington kept his cards in his pocket.
Linington also showed little interest in Preston's appeals for a penalty after 25 minutes, despite Mark McGuinness appearing to drag down Emil Riis in the six-yard box.
The second period began much as the first had ended with neither side threatening a breakthrough, aside from a strong run into the box from Preston forward Cameron Archer who saw his shot deflected behind.
Cardiff boss Morison attempted to spark his side into life with a double change on the hour as Uche Ikpeazu and Rubin Colwill were introduced in place of Isaak Davies and Tommy Doyle, who had both failed to replicate their impressive recent form.
Ikpeazu was straight into the action and wanted a penalty after tangling with Sepp van den Berg but the decision went the way of the Preston man.
At the other end, Alan Browne dragged a shot wide after being teed up by Riis on the edge of the area before firing a free-kick into the Bluebirds wall.
The closest either side came to scoring was a big chance for the lively Daniel Johnson in the 74th minute.
But, after pouncing on a poor defensive header from Doughty, he was denied at close range by the advancing Smithies.
There was another chance for Browne 10 minutes from time, but he lost his footing as he tried to turn in the rebound after Smithies had parried Archer's snapshot.
Ikpeazu forced Iversen into two flying saves in a frantic final five minutes and Hugill had the ball in the net in stoppage time only for Ikpeazu to be penalised for a push in the build-up.
Cardiff's Steve Morison: "It was a 0-0 game. It had 0-0 written all over it from the first five minutes of the game. You're just hoping you have a moment and win it. We nearly had that but it wasn't to be. Their manager turned around to me at the end and we shook each other's hand and we both said, 'that was boring, wasn't it!'"The positive is we kept a clean
sheet and it's another point in the right direction. We would have lost that a few months back. We dust ourselves down now and go again on Monday. Hopefully, it's a bit more exciting on Wednesday [against Stoke]."
Preston's Ryan Lowe: "It's a good point but I think we were well worthy of three points. We had some good opportunities. I'm disappointed we didn't have that cutting edge in the final third, that little bit of quality. You look at the points we could have had, and we'd be in a different position," he added. "It's a nightmare, when you look at it like that. You think to yourself that it could be better.
"But it's a relentless league with some good teams and you've got to earn the right to take points and it's not for the lack of trying. We are only six points off and the league can throw up anything. There's no pressure on my lads. I just want to have a good end to the season and if the points take us closer then, who knows, we might get a bit excited."
