Preston North End drew 0-0 at Watford on Saturday afternoon with lingering hopes of a Championship play-off place now probably out of mind for most supporters.
PNE needed a victory at Vicarage Road after falling to a 1-0 defeat at Birmingham City on Monday afternoon.
Ryan Lowe was somewhat limited with the team he could pick with a host of midfielders out of action and Liam Millar also out of action.
North End did manage to create some openings to win this one but it just wasn’t to be.
Jack Whatmough’s early header went wide, Andrew Hughes drove an effort wide and Will Keane’s volley went just past the post in the second half.
PNE only managed one shot on target though and had just 28% of possession, completing only 197 passes along the way.
This wasn’t vintage PNE and with Mads Frøkjær-Jensen – the side’s most creative player – on the bench, fans have been left frustrated with a perceived lack of ambition.
A point at Watford would have been a decent result at any other point in the season but a draw when PNE really needed a win just felt a little deflating.
Ryan Lowe praises makeshift PNE ace
There are mitigating factors here and the slightly muddled nature of PNE’s starting XI means a free-flowing attacking display was always going to be a big ask.
Ben Whiteman, Ryan Ledson and Alan Browne were all unavailable, meaning PNE had to go with defender Jack Whatmough in midfield.
Whatmough is a centre back by trade but played a handful of games as defensive midfielder at Portsmouth as well as one at Wigan Athletic.
The 27-year-old was asked to operate in a similar role against Watford and Lowe felt that he did a fine job.
Speaking to iFollow, Lowe branded Whatmough’s display ‘excellent’ and felt that he really helped nullify Watford’s attacking threats.
Lowe added that he told Whatmough of his plans to play him in midfield on Thursday, asking him to ‘do a job’ for the team.
Whatmough was more than happy to do so, leaving Lowe to praise the former Wigan Athletic man.
“Jack Whatmough in midfield, we wanted him to stifle their strengths in their 10’s, which we’ve seen him do,” said Lowe. “Jack’s a top pro, as we’ve said, and when he’s come in, he’s been excellent. He was excellent at the weekend and excellent again today. I just pulled him on Thursday and just said ‘listen, I know you’ve played in midfield once or twice before in your career, but I need you to do a job for us’. He said ‘no problem gaffer, that’s fine’ and what a job he did, he was excellent.”
“I’ve just said to him in there ‘well done, fantastic’ and we just know that we’ve got those players who can fill them roles when needed, when we’re bare bones a little bit in terms of players, hopefully we’ll get them back next week and yeah, he was fantastic,” he added.
Whatmough can have strong end of the season
Whatmough joined PNE from Wigan back in August but has only made 11 Championship starts this season.
Jordan Storey has locked down the right-sided centre back role whilst Liam Lindsay has been huge in the heart of PNE’s back line.
That has made it tough for Whatmough to get in, but he could now have a strong end to the campaign with his ability to play in midfield.
It’s unclear just when Whiteman and Ledson will return and Whatmough may be looking to string some starts together before summer arrives.
Whatmough will then go into his first pre-season as a PNE player and will be looking to really kick on to nail down a bigger role in his second North End season.
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