Derby’s automatic promotion hopes suffered another setback after they were held to a goalless draw by Preston. Although they had plenty of possession, Derby hardly created a clear chance and their winless run was stretched to six league games.

Paul Clement admitted he found the evening frustrating but insisted automatic promotion remains “achievable” even though his side have not won in the Championship since Boxing Day. They are now five points behind second-placed Middlesbrough having played two games more

Derby started impressively, with Jeff Hendrick flashing a shot just wide inside the first minute. But Preston soaked up the pressure and almost took the lead when Paul Gallagher’s 25-yard shot forced Scott Carson into an acrobatic save.

Although they continued to dominate possession Derby created few clear openings and it was 80 minutes before the visiting goalkeeper, the debutant Anders Lindegaard, had to make a meaningful save when he beat out a Cyrus Christie cross-shot.

Adam Reach saw an effort blocked by Jason Shackell as Preston broke dangerously and Derby’s last chance to rescue another disappointing night came in the 87th minute when the substitute Craig Bryson fired narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

Clement however remains positive about automatic promotion. “It’s achievable,” he said. “There are 17 games still to go although we’ve got to start stringing some victories together if that’s going to happen.

“Of course I am concerned about the run, I would be silly to say I wasn’t, but I still have the belief that a victory is not far away. The message I gave to the players is that we’ve got to keep going. They gave all their effort and we’ve got to keep working hard on the training field, keep positive and keep the belief within us. There’s a long way to go and we’ve actually gone up a place.”

But Clement acknowledged his team had created little on the night, adding: “It was a frustrating evening although I commend the players – they gave everything from the first minute to the last, although we didn’t create anything clear-cut and I don’t think we had a shot on target.

“It was really challenging to break them down and if we had had that little bit of fortune in the first 10 or 15 minutes when we were dominant it would have been a different game.”

Simon Grayson was delighted Preston had carried out the plan they had worked on. “This is a difficult place to come because they have some good players,” the manager said. “Our players stuck to the game plan we spent four or five days working on and the effort the lads put in was unbelievable. Our keeper has not had a shot to save whereas theirs has had a few and we created a couple of good chances.”