Simon Grayson stressed Preston North End were in no way lucky to have held Nottingham Forest to a goalless draw, claiming the League One side were “worthy of at least a draw”.
Grayson’s side produced a dogged and disciplined display against Billy Davies’s Championship side ensuring the two sides will face each other again at Deepdale in 10 days.
Nottingham Forest 0-0 Preston North End
FA Cup with Budweiser
Fourth Round Proper
The City Ground
Friday 24 January
The Preston boss praised his players for executing a game plan designed to frustrate Forest’s free-flowing pass-and-move style, an approach which very nearly rewarded the Lancastrians with a place in the Fifth Round.
“We knew that we had to be hard to beat and we had a game plan and we were worthy of at least a replay,” explained Grayson.
“We worked on things on Wednesday [in training] on what we needed to do and we had to be prepared to give them the ball at times and then hit them on the counter-attack and everything we did worked tonight. I am very pleased with the players.”
The hosts had to rely on the heroics of goalkeeper Karl Darlow in the closing stages to ensure their continued presence in the competition.
The Forest stopper had to produce a spectacular low save to repel substitute Jack King’s long range strike before being alert to parry Josh Brownhill’s last minute free kick. It wouldn’t have been underserving to have seen either strike register the game’s only goal.
“We can be very proud of how the players have worked and how they have competed”
Simon Grayson
Grayson added: “We were coming here knowing we were the underdogs against a strong, powerful Championship team who obviously turned West Ham over in the previous round.
“I think the only chance Declan [Rudd] has had to make all night is in the first 10 or 15 minutes and then after that we’ve worked their keeper at least half a dozen times.
“We can be very proud of how the players have worked and how they have competed”.
