New Luton boss Matt Bloomfield was disappointed his side did not create enough goalscoring opportunities during his first match in charge but felt their 0-0 home draw with Preston provided a “good foundation”.
Having left a team in Wycombe who had notched 50 goals already in League One this term, he saw his new Town side manage nine shots throughout the 90 minutes against North End, with only four of them on target and all straightforward for visiting keeper Freddie Woodman.
Asked for his initial thoughts on his debut in the Hatters hotseat, Bloomfield said: “Some good and some not so good. I thought out of possession, it was nice to get a clean sheet, first one in 12 I’m led to believe and stop a run of five straight defeats as well.
“So there’s some bits to be pleased with, identity-wise, I thought there were some bits that came out.
Obviously we’d have loved to have scored, created more clear-cut opportunities, we didn’t quite do that but I don’t think that’s been just today, I think that’s been throughout the season.
“So more work to be done but a good foundation for us to build.
“You learn a huge amount in game situations, both individually and collectively, so what I’ve learned today is that as a group they’re willing to take on the work and really try to implement that on a Saturday afternoon, so that’s really encouraging and pleasing.”
Town had started well in the contest, Mark McGuinness scuffing wide from a corner and then Jordan Clark shooting straight at Woodman.
After the break, Clark’s cross was missed by both Carlton Morris and Isaiah Jones, while Morris’ snapshot was too close to the Preston keeper and Clark’s 25-yard free-kick was easy enough for Woodman too.
In stoppage time, Elijah Adebayo’s attempt from outside the box was also straight at the Lilywhites keeper. The visitors, meanwhile, did not manage a single effort to test Thomas Kaminski, with Andrew Hughes and Kaine Kesler-Hayden off target.
Having lost 3-1 at West Brom in their last away game, it was a display that pleased Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom, who said: “I’m really pleased from minute one to the end.
“I think you guys could have probably guessed how I was going to approach the game after our last away performance in the league and then it became a little bit tricky in terms of when Luton made the change of manager.
“You don’t know what team they’re going to pick and tactically set up, so we’re just focused on ourselves and our mentality away from home.
“One thing that is for sure is their threats are still the same, the personnel and 12 out of the last 20 goals are set-plays, so there’s only two out of the last 20 when they’ve really opened teams up in open play.
“We picked a team to combat that and it was about that today. I’ve been critical where we’ve come away from home and had moments in games where we haven’t been as resolute, haven’t been as dogged, not managed moments in games well enough.
“I’d love it if that was a benchmark for every away game until the end of the season in terms of the mentality, we want to be better in other areas, but it was important that we showed that today.”
