Cardiff 1-1 Preston

Last gasp equaliser saves Cardiff.

Manager Darren Ferguson labelled his side's draw to Cardiff a "bitter pill to swallow", but the hard fought encounter against a side fighting for the Championship lead is certainly something to build on for the Lilywhites.

Cardiff were dealt an early blow when England international striker Jay Bothroyd limped off with an injury after just 8 minutes, seemingly pulling his hamstring as he chased a ball over the top of the Preston defence.

Preston then went ahead after twenty five minutes as a Michael Tonge free kick bundled underneath the Cardiff wall and deflected into the net, putting to rest Preston's streak of 340 minutes without a lead in a game. However, it was to be a lead they would spend the rest of the game trying to protect, as Cardiff, with a plethora of talent up front, seized control and began to push forward at every opportunity.

Premiership star Craig Bellamy struck the target shortly after for the home side, playing a neat one-two between himself and Keogh before shooting from the edge of the box, but his shot wasn't strong enough to find the Preston net.

Cardiff came out fighting in the second half, with early attempts by Whittingham and Bellamy both narrowly missing the target. Andy Lonergan was at hand on the 55th minute to parry wide a powerful Bellamy volley after Keogh lead him clean through on goal.

However, as the clock wound down, Cardiff's attack gained momentum. Craig Bellamy was allowed another volley from six yards out, which Preston only escaped by the outstreched leg of Wayne Brown on the goal line; the follow-up was powered wide by Whittingham.

As injury time struck, Gabor Gyepes seemed certain to have levelled the scoring as he powered in a header from the six yard box which seemed destined for the top corner, only to see a remarkable jumping clearance by Danny Pugh on the Preston goal line.

In total, Cardiff fired twenty five shots at the North End goal, but it would take until the twenty fifth attempt to finally bear fruit. In spite of PNE's valiant attempts to secure only their second win in eleven games, it wasn't to be their day. Andrew Keogh dealt the crushing blow in the fourth minute of stoppage time, as olimenjana nodded the ball across the box, leaving him to power a header home from close range.

After their relentless attacking performance in the second half, Cardiff will feel the draw was the least they deserved. But for North End - who have conceded in all but one of their league games this season - holding off a Cardiff side that lead the league in goals is certainly a big positive.