Emil Riis scored his fifth goal of the season to earn Preston a 1-1 draw with West Brom in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Dane equalised early in the second half after Karlan Grant had put the Baggies in front with a 13th-minute opener.
Carlos Corberan’s visitors came into the match with the joint most draws in the division with nine, while Preston had shared the spoils on eight occasions, so the result was hardly a surprising one.
Goalkeeper Dai Cornell came into Paul Heckingbottom’s team for his first start of the season after Freddie Woodman’s late red card against Stoke and the 33-year-old did well to turn Grant’s thumping 25-yard effort round a post in the 10th minute.
But the Albion forward made no mistake when his next opportunity arose, latching on to an incisive through-ball from Tom Fellows before delicately chipping the onrushing keeper for his third goal of the campaign.
It took Preston until the 26th minute to fashion an opening, but Josh Bowler’s low shot from just outside the box was easily gathered by Alex Palmer.
Bowler went much closer eight minutes later, steering Sam Greenwood’s excellent cross past the keeper, but Mason Holgate was on hand to make a goal-line clearance.
North End came out with a bang in the second half and Ali McCann nearly equalised within minutes of the restart, but his header from Greenwood’s corner was inadvertently blocked on its way to goal by team-mate Riis.
Greenwood’s corners were causing all sorts of problems at the start of the second period and Torbjorn Heggem was brave, throwing his body in the way of Andrew Hughes’ fierce strike at the far post.
The pressure eventually told in the 55th minute as Riis shifted inside Holgate before directing a shot into the far corner from just outside the box after being found by Greenwood.
Leeds loanee Greenwood was at the heart of all things inventive for the home side and he found Jordan Storey with another inviting corner just after the hour mark, but Palmer was alert to make the save.
However, in the 69th minute substitute Jayson Molumby was found unmarked in the centre of the box from a quickly-taken Josh Maja free-kick and McCann did brilliantly to block the Irishman’s finish.
Greenwood’s display warranted a goal and he stung the palms of Palmer 10 minutes later with a 25-yard free-kick, but neither side were able to land a decisive blow in a closely-contested clash.
