Return of Deepdale's 'fortress' status very welcome

Two home wins and now a draw are a positive start

- writes JOHN SMITH

Before this game against the division's early pace setters Middlesbrough, even though I would have loved a third successive home league win I would have taken the draw.

The reason for this view being that in my opinion Boro will definitely be in the mix for an end-of-season top-six finish and, in that case, it could be seen as a point gained.

Also I am not naive enough to expect my team to win all their 23 home league matches in a season, although I do realise that most teams do need an impressive home record and need to win games to achieve any form of success.