Stuart McCall urges Preston to keep momentum going on seven-match unbeaten run

Preston assistant manager Stuart McCall has challenged the team to keep up their momentum in the second half of the season after they extended their unbeaten Sky Bet Championship run to seven matches with a 0-0 draw at Stoke.

Both sides had chances to score in a hard-fought encounter, but they ultimately cancelled each other out as the spoils were shared.

The result sees play-off hopefuls Preston, whose manager Paul Heckingbottom was serving the final match in his three-game touchline ban, remain in fifth place having won two and drawn five of their last seven outings.

And McCall has urged the players to carry their solid form beyond the halfway point of the campaign.

“We’ve lost the [joint] second least amount of games, apart from Coventry,” he said.

“But we had a good start to last season, for the first half of it, and then we tailed off and we had too many draws.

“They’re a resolute bunch. We don’t go away to sit in and defend. We want to be on the front foot, we want to be more attack-minded and we’ve had our creative spark going forward missing today, so it was always going to be tough.

“But the lads are doing far better than they did last season, that’s for sure.”

Just three points separate Preston and 10th-placed Stoke, meaning it is all to play for in the battle to secure a top-six finish.

“There’s not a lot in it,” McCall said.

“It’s about picking up points and keep being in the top half of the league, and then if in January we can attract people, great, but if we’ve got a fully fit squad, we’re doing fine at the minute.”

Stoke have now won only one of their last six league games, but boss Mark Robins feels they deserved more from the match.

“We ended up getting a point, but it could have and should have been a lot more,” he said.

“We looked a threat from set plays, we looked pretty good in terms of the back to the front, but you’re still looking for little bit quicker movement.

“In the last three games, we’ve won one, lost one and drawn one now, and we’re looking for more.

“But 34 points, if we can actually replicate or do a little bit better than that in the second half of the season it could be good, which we’re going to have to do because we’ve lost ground.

“But I think that a little bit of reality needs to be there because you can only do so much with young players. They can be up and down, but they’re doing the right things more often than not.

“It’s just that little bit of timing, a little bit of movement, a little bit of understanding, the timing of the movements rather than waiting for the ball to be played through.

“You’ve got to be proactive, rather than reactive.”