Huddersfield's hopes of pulling away from the Championship bottom three and Preston's play-off ambitions both suffered a blow as they played out a goalless draw.

Preston came closest to taking the lead in the opening half through Patrick Bauer's header wide from Josh Harrop's delivery.

It was a match of few chances for either side, with Huddersfield recording the only shot on target.

Scott Sinclair fired wide and Sean Maguire hit a shot into the side netting as Preston pushed for a dramatic late winner deep in added time.

Alex Neil's Preston are now six points off the play-off places, in ninth, having occupied sixth spot and the final play-off place when the league restarted on 20 June.

Huddersfield lie two points above the bottom three but remain in 20th with five games of the season remaining.

The Terriers face Reading on Tuesday in their next league fixture while Preston travel to Hillsborough to play Sheffield Wednesday the following day.
Not one for the history books

In a nondescript first half Tom Barkhuizen could not quite reach Alan Browne's cross as North End dominated possession without carrying too much threat.

There was a delay just before the break as Christopher Schindler received treatment for a head injury following an aerial collision.

Despite his injury, Schindler continued and put in a fine defensive display for the Terriers as he helped them keep a second successive clean sheet for the first time since October.

Stoke's win over Barnsley combined with Charlton's defeat by Millwall on Friday means Huddersfield are now level on 46 points with the Potters and Addicks as they head into the final stages of the season.

Meanwhile Preston, who are on their longest winless run since October 2018, have picked up just one point from a possible 21.

Huddersfield Town boss Danny Cowley:It wasn't one for the purists but when you don't play well, or in attack, you have to keep the back door closed and we did that today."We want to do it [stay up] on our own merit. I'll get no pride or even feeling of contentment if we stay up by virtue of another team [Wigan] going into administration or having points deducted."That's what we set out to do and what we are determined to do."

Preston North End manager Alex Neil:"We wanted to make sure we got back to being hard to beat, we wanted to make sure we kept a clean sheet, which we did."We got in really good situations in the first half at times. We got down the sides quite a few times but it's just getting that final pass away."I would have liked to have won the game and I thought that was represented in how aggressive we were."