Saturday 17 January 2015 00:06, UK
Leyton Orient assistant boss Marcello Donatelli hailed his side's battling qualities after Chris Dagnall's late penalty rescued a 2-2 draw against Preston.
Dagnall's equaliser 12 minutes from time cancelled out Paul Gallagher's second-half penalty, which looked to have given the hosts victory.
Orient had taken a fifth minute lead through David Mooney but Jermaine Beckford struck midway through the first half to bring the scores level.
Donatelli revealed that O's boss Fabio Liverani was suffering with a fever post-game but that a point at Deepdale had brightened his mood.
"It was a more difficult game because we played against a team who are both physically and technically good," said Donatelli. "I'm pleased with how we battled.
"They are very strong physically and with the ball. But we played a good defensive game with will and sacrifice so congratulations to the players for this point.
"We scored two very good goals, two different goals. We have played a good defensive game too because Preston are a strong adversary and they have 20 points more but with sacrifice, with will, it is a good performance.
"The mood is positive because we gained a good point against Preston. The view is very positive.
"Fabio said congratulations to all the players for a good performance and he told them to improve for the next game to play better in the offensive."
Preston missed the chance to move within three points of League One leaders Swindon.
North End boss Simon Grayson admitted his side were not at their best on Friday night and that they did not deserve to take all three points.
"When you look at the overall game we weren't good enough and didn't deserve a win," said Grayson. "We didn't work hard enough as a team. So overall it was a disappointing and frustrating night.
"The decision making was wrong. We shot from stupid angles and distances when it wasn't on to do it. Individuals played as if they've never played with their team-mates recently.
"You've got to make sure you're hard to beat and grind it out. The goals we conceded were soft goals and one or two individuals need to have a look at their performances.
"There were a few words in there after the game and if there wasn't I wouldn't be doing my job properly.
"If I went in there and told the players they'd done well I'd be deluding myself. The players are aware of what they've done.
"They need to look at themselves and think "What do I need to do better?" Because I can assure one or two of them won't be in the team Tuesday night.
"We got into a position where we were 2-1 up and we've got to be more determined and there wasn't enough desire to stop them equalising.
"I'm more frustrated than the fans because I see players in training every day and when they don't go out and produce it it's very frustrating.
"Anybody watching that game would think we don't do any shooting sessions. How we missed the target, and so embarrassingly missing the target, was there for all to see."
