PNE stretched their unbeaten league run to four games following another solid performance away from home that could very easily have finished with the whites returning north with all three points.
Rob Hulse prodded Derby ahead after seven minutes against the run of play but North End responded with a penalty from Callum Davidson and a clinical finish from Neil Mellor.
North End looked comfortable but a wonder strike from Jordan Stewart on 32 minutes meant PNE had to share the spoils.
The two sides dominated different spells of the second period with Andy Lonergan pulling off an excellent save to deny Derby and his counterpart doing the same to thwart Chris Brown with quarter of an hour to go.
Backed by a typically vocal away support the yellow-clad North End side, the same as the previous two games, started much the brighter, dominating the early possession.
Ross Wallace was the tormentor-in-chief and a dangerous early ball was met by Chris Brown's head but it went agonsingly wide of Carroll's left post.
North End followed that up with another bit of enterprising wingplay on the left-hand side, this time Callum Davidson sending in a cracking low ball but Neil Mellor could only side-foot it at Carroll in the middle of the goal.
Derby then took the lead on seven minutes completely against the run of play with their first attack of real note.
The PNE defence cleared a harmless ball into the penalty area but Paul Green looped a header back over and Hulse was first to react and prodded past Lonergan for the first goal.
There were questions of off-side but TV replays showed the striker was level with the defence.
North End carried on where they were before the opener and could have equalised sooner than they did.
Another darting run from Davidson took him past Connolly and he squared for Mellor but the former Liverpool man could only direct his shot over the bar.
North End finally took the lead in the twenty first minute and it was an enterprising piece of skill from Wallace that created it.
The jinking Scottish winger stepped inside Emmanuel Villa and he was tripped in front of the referee who had no choice but to blow the whistle.
Despite the protestations of the home crowd, the decision stood and Callum Davidson stepped up to thwack the penalty high into the top left corner.
With the away fans singing "We're gonna win 4-1" Derby began to respond.
Barazite and Hulse combined well on the right flank and the striker pulled it back for the onrushing Green only for the midfielder to pull it wide of Lonners' left post.
But it was the hard work of Neil Mellor that resulted in North End taking the lead.
Jordan Stewart's backpass was too short and Mellor sensed blood and snatched the ball away from him and strode through to finish consumately past Carroll for his third in three away games.
With North End looking comfy it looked as if a repeat of last season's FA Cup match could have been on but Jordan Stewart had other ideas.
The former Watford man lashing home a left-footed volley from all of twenty yards to give Lonergan no chance at all.
The game petered out towards half-time but the second half was very much the goalkeepers' show.
Two minutes into the half Andy Lonergan pulled off a stunning full-stretch save from a Kazmierczak freekick that left the home fans dumbfounded as he swung his right hand to deny the Pole brilliantly.
This set the tone for a renaissance of sorts from the home side with the influential sub Nathan Ellington stretching the North End defence at times however for all Derby's possession and crosses into the box they couldn't find the killer blow.
Ellington came close with a right-footed shot from twelve yards but Lonergan was equal to it and tapped it behind for a corner.
In midfield Paul McKenna was pulling the strings for PNE and he almost got himself into a goalscoring position when released by Davidson but the ball got stuck under his feet, however he managed to release Wallace but the winger's ball was headed over by Chris Sedgwick.
The final quarter of the game was all North End with two notable opportunities going begging amidst an incredible number of corners.
On 73 minutes Sean St. Ledger met a Wallace corner and saw it cleared away but Brown was first to the clearance but as his header looked to be dipping in Carroll stuck out a hand and saved the home side.
Five minutes later it was Ledge again who came close glancing wide a Richard Chaplow corner as it became clear it might be one of those nights.
But the final word belongs to Andy Lonergan who pulled off a staggering save to ensure North End returned with something.
Kazmierczak found space on the left wing and found Hulse who from six yards thought his header was going in but the North End number one reacted incredibly to palm the ball wide of the post.
Stephen Elliott came on for PNE in the dying moments but it wasn't to be for North End in spite of an impressive first half performance and a stirring end to the match.
But the unbeaten run continues with Bristol City at Deepdale to come on Saturday.
