Watford Head Coach Rob Edwards was pleased to extend the Hornets’ unbeaten run to five matches, after a goalless draw with Preston North End at Deepdale.

Both teams had chances to break the deadlock despite the scoreline, with Rey Manaj and Vakoun Bayo coming closest for Watford. The boss was impressed with his side’s performance, and felt there were a lot of positives to take from the encounter.

“Both teams created some good opportunities, and how the game was 0-0 I’m not quite sure,” Edwards began.

“[Daniel] Bachmann made some great saves again, and I thought we performed well all over the pitch. It’s a difficult place to come, and we were unlucky not to win.

“There were many things that pleased me today. It’s been quite a difficult week for various reasons, so to come away with a point and a positive performance is a good reward.

“We have had a couple of difficult away games, so first of all getting a couple of points at difficult places has pleased me. If you look at the game today as a whole, the control we showed at times was really good.

“I thought there was good cohesion with the ball. I would like us to speed it up a little bit and ask a few questions sooner, especially with two strikers on the pitch today.

“But I’m really pleased with the bravery of the players and the decision making, because Preston are set and ready to pounce on any kind of mistakes. Overall, I’m happy.”

Going into the match against the Lilywhites Edwards made two changes, with João Pedro replaced by Manaj due to injury and Hassane Kamara returning to the starting side.

The Welshman was particularly happy with how the Hornets adapted to that situation, with certain changes being enforced late on in the week.

Edwards continued: “We had to make a couple of changes and we were unlucky yesterday with João Pedro just feeling his calf from the Birmingham game. He was uncomfortable with his calf, and he had it scanned and he wasn’t right for the match.

“Ismaïla Sarr trained yesterday and was meant to play today, but between us and him we weren’t fully confident, even though he travelled up here wanting to play.

“We had to make a couple of changes - one yesterday and one this morning. That’s something that really pleased me - the adaptability of the players.

“That’s what the squad is about. We are going to have to make changes because we have 46 matches. There will be injuries and suspensions, so you have to come together because we are all in it together as a group.”

With the match concluding a point-a-piece, the result ensured that the Golden Boys have now avoided defeat in their opening five league games for the first time since 2000/01 under Graham Taylor. Edwards praised the exceptional away support in Lancashire, and was satisfied that they didn’t go home empty-handed.

“If you can’t win, then you don’t want to lose,” he added. “We want to win because we are winners in the dressing room, the players are winners. If you don’t win, you have to make sure you don’t lose, and that is five times we have done that now which is a good record.

“A big thank you to the travelling support because they were incredible again. It was great to go over to them, because they can see the effort and commitment. They saw that we created some chances and that we could’ve won on another day.”

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