Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl said his side’s 1-1 draw with Preston felt more like a defeat.
Michael Smith’s second-half equaliser cancelled out Emil Riis’ opener as North End’s search for a first Championship away win of the season continues.
Rohl said: “The performance in the first half was not good enough. The first 15 minutes showed a lot and we deserved to be losing.
“I am really disappointed and I take this as a loss. This is not the type of performance I want to see from my team.
“In the second half we were slightly better. Yes, we missed a penalty, but these things happen. It’s what happened before and after that which bothers me more.
“I have given some players the opportunity to play today but we were not at the level we need to be at. Preston probably should have got more from the game.
“We’ve come back against Cardiff, Derby and again today. It shows we have a good mentality but we have to improve on this. If we can go ahead the opposition has to come at us and we can control the game.
“It’s a tough division and you can see in the table how close it is. We are unbeaten in the last four but we have to show ambition to push ourselves.
“Before you can play nice football you have to get the basics right. We have to be more nasty and aggressive than we were today.
“Last year our strength was our home games, so we know we are capable of getting wins here. We have to show a reaction against Blackburn on Tuesday.”
Preston’s assistant manager Stuart McCall said his side were happy with their performance but disappointed not to come away with the win.
“It’s mixed emotions for us today,” McCall said. “We’ve played in difficult conditions away from home but we’re disappointed not to have taken three points to be honest.
“Usually you’d be happy with a point at a place like this but we can’t help but feel we’ve dropped two points today.
“We started really quickly and scored a great early goal. We would have liked to have scored a few more in that period of pressure but Wednesday’s keeper (James Beadle) has pulled off a string of good saves.
“We knew the home side would have spells; they’re in good form at the moment. We dealt with it for the most part and Freddie (Woodman) pulled off a great save from the penalty.
“We were moving the ball well and overall we kept them relatively quiet. It was another strong away defensive performance but it was just a soft goal to concede.
“We’re pleased overall because we’ve shown a lot of good things. It will just be a hard one to watch back as we rue missing our big chances.
“We’re frustrated but we have to take all the positives we can. If we keep believing in what we’re doing and believing in each other the results will come.
“We know if we keep playing like we are we’ll start putting three points on the board. It’s just a case of staying focused at the back and taking our chances at the other end.”
