Frustrating

A frustrating afternoon for the home fans in a gate of 9800 as Preston drew with Tranmere Rovers at Deepdale on a windy and sometimes wet afternoon, only a late Joe Garner headed saved the home side from defeat.
North End struggled all afternoon to break down the visitors 9-0-1 formation in which the main tactic seemed to be hammer it long and let Ryan Lowe chase after it, which the veteran forward did with aplomb.
An early Rudd save kept the visitors from taking an early lead, but the traffic was mainly one way towards the Tranmere goal, saying that though North End final pass was abysmal, many chances going begging due to dire distribution.
North End main efforts came down the left hand side of the pitch were Gallagher and Laird linked well. The home side were unlucky just before the break when Keane got the ball past Fon Williams in the Rovers goal, however his shot lacked power and was cleared to Welsh whose 20 yard shot narrowly missed.
Out of the blue the visitors took the lead in the second half, Keane appeared to be fouled, nothing was given and the ball up field found the home defence sadly wanting as Atkinson cooly curled the ball round Rudd from just outside the box. (0-1)
North End responded by making three changes however they were struggling to create anything worthwhile. Lowe nearly capitalised on some dodgy defending but Rudd saved the day.
Rovers had now gone to a 10-0-0 formation, it worked for a while, they wasted time, fell over at the slightest contact which fooled the referee, many a time.
Then with the clock on 90 minutes North End broke down the left and for once a cross was perfect, Garner rose above the defender to power home a header. (1-1)
Both sides went close from free kicks with Garner and Koumas being the takers.
Lastly a word about the officials, CLUELESS

Preston North End 1 Tranmere Rovers 1 Att 9600