Preston North End are winless away in the Championship this season
Stoke City and Preston North End failed to break the deadlock in a goalless stalemate that ended with visiting goalkeeper Freddie Woodman being sent off in stoppage time.
In an uneventful first half, Milutin Osmajic had the biggest chance, being left unmarked from a Sam Greenwood cross but he could only guide the ball into Stoke goalkeeper Viktor Johansson's hands.
The tempo picked up in the second half, with efforts from both sides going just wide including Wouter Burger's deflected header and Ben Whiteman's strike before Preston keeper Woodman was red carded for handling the ball outside the box late in the game.
A point apiece means Stoke drop down to 13th on 21 points whilst Preston rise to 19th.
Paul Heckingbottom's side are winless away from home in the Championship this season but could have easily bucked the trend on a cold night in Staffordshire.
Osmajic - returning to the Lilywhites starting line up for the first time since his eight-match ban for biting Owen Beck - had a golden opportunity in the 33rd minute, failing to guide the ball past Johansson from a swinging Sam Greenwood cross despite being unmarked.
That was arguably the biggest chance of the match, but the second half was much more box-to-box.
Netherlands Under-21 winger Million Manhoef delivered a corner, from which fellow Dutchman Burger headed onto the back of Preston centre-half Jack Whatmough and just wide.
It was then the Lancashire club's turn to respond, as midfielder Whiteman struck a piledriver which deflected wide off Tatsuki Sekoto.
Whiteman had two further similar long-range efforts saved by Johansson heading into the final 10 minutes as Preston's momentum grew - but it was the visitors' goalkeeper who ended up stealing the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
A poor back-pass from Whatmough was pinched by former North End loan signing Tom Cannon by the left corner of the box, but Woodman picked up the ball outside the area - and was duly ordered off by rfeferee Matt Donohue.
Stoke City head coach Narcis Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke:
"This was not our best performance. We can perform much better.
"They are a competitive side. Set plays, second balls, full of experienced players.
"We had a sloppy game, I'm not okay with that. We didn't find the rhythm that we want to implement in games. We had some ball possession but, without depth and finding the verticality that we want."
Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"Once again we've limited a team to nothing on our goal, which is becoming a good habit. We've not had our rewards for doing that in the last few games, because even though the team might have had one attempt on goal, they'd have been scoring with that attempt.
"So I'm pleased with a clean sheet and I'm pleased with the way we were able to impose ourselves in terms of getting better as the game went on, which is always a good sign when you're away from home.
"I'm not saying that we came here and dominated. People will probably look at it and say it's a fair result, but we shaded it. We've been dominant in games and not won enough, but that's nothing to fear or to lack confidence over. We just weren't as positive as I'd have liked us to be."
