Bristol City 1-1 Preston North End: Famara Diedhiou equaliser rescues Robins a point
- Published
Bristol City and Preston were involved in the only game in the Championship which began with nothing riding on the outcome
Famara Diedhiou's 12th Championship goal of the season ended Preston's Ashton Gate winning streak as Bristol City came from behind to claim a point against their bogey side.
Preston had looked set to win for their sixth straight visit to the West Country when Daniel Johnson's brilliant backheel freed Sean Maguire to dink North End's opener over Daniel Bentley.
But Diedhiou, who was racially abused on social media after missing a penalty in City's weekend loss at Swansea, pounced on a mistake from Preston defender Joe Rafferty to slam home the equaliser.
The Robins remain winless in their past 14 attempts against Preston, who created the better chances throughout with Bentley thwarting Maguire and Paul Gallagher, who also hit the bar from 25 yards.
Both sides had been in promotion contention for much of the season but faded away since football's restart, with the draw meaning Preston finished ninth, three places and three points above City.
In late February, with 12 games remaining, this encounter could have been earmarked as a final-day play-off shootout with Preston and City then sitting sixth and seventh respectively.
But a dreadful set of results for each club either side of lockdown put paid to such pretensions - this was the only game on the Championship's final day that, mathematically, had nothing riding on it.
Despite both having improved in the past fortnight, Preston's preceding seven-game winless run and an even lengthier nine-match barren sequence for the Robins ultimately proved costly for each.
Nonetheless, it has been another season of second-tier stability for both sides, who were promoted from League One together in 2014-15 - City recording a third consecutive top-half finish and Preston a fourth in five seasons.
Preston deserved their half-time advantage, courtesy of Johnson's piece of skill and Maguire's cool finish, but Alex Neil's men were not as dominant after the break.
Caretaker boss Dean Holden's City laboured defensively, conceding for a 16th successive game, but Diedhiou tucked in from close range after Rafferty got Andi Weimann's cross caught beneath his feet.
Post-match reaction
Bristol City caretaker boss Dean Holden told BBC Radio Bristol:
"I thought we deserved to win, second half. There needed to be some strong words at half-time because in the first half we didn't win enough second balls.
"They responded and that's all you can ask for, we came flying out of the traps with the goal and we've had some good chances in the game to win it.
"People will say there's nothing riding on the game but if you were here tonight, you would have seen that both teams were going flat out to win it.
"We're just disappointed we couldn't quite get that win because we got a big performance in the second half and hopefully that will give the supporters something to stay really positive about over the summer and get ready for an attack on [promotion to] the Premier League next year.
"That's the club's aim, that has to be everybody's aim. Everything is set up for the Premier League - it's a fantastic job for whoever gets it."
Preston North End manager Alex Neil:
"We had the better chances and didn't take enough of them, which has been partly the story of our campaign.
"We have also given away too many cheap goals like the one in this game. That's something else we have to work on in such a competitive league.
"The squad needs bolstering and freshening up with a few signings to strengthen us. But overall I have been proud of what the players have done this season.
"It's about taking that extra chance or being sharper at the back to make that bit of difference if we want to improve further."