Alex Neil frustrated with performance but pleased to see Preston North End's unbeaten run extended with Rotherham draw

Tom Barkhuizen put PNE in front on 39 minutes but Michael Smith levelled things up early in the second half as the Millers improved after the break.

“We can play a lot better individually and collectively that we did,” said Neil.

“But I said to the lads afterwards that the positive is that’s five games unbeaten for us.

“If you’re not going to win you need to make sure you don’t get beaten.

“You can’t lose to the teams around and about you, certainly at home, they really are six-pointers.

“Our main aim was to go and win the game and when you’re leading at home you’re naturally disappointed.

“Over the piece if any team deserved to win it it was probably us but I don’t think we quite did enough to win the game.”

Despite settling for a point after a below-par performance Neil insisted winning was all that was on his mind in the closing stages with Callum Robinson coming closest to making that a reality.

“We set out to win the game, you could see at the end we didn’t want a draw,” said Neil.

“We threw caution to the wind and went two-on-two at the back and wanted to force the issue.

“Unfortunately we didn’t show the quality we know we have to go and get that goal.

“Callum’s chance was the best one and with the form he’s been in I would have expected him to score but he’s not going to score every time he gets an opportunity.”