Preston North End left Home Park with a point after a hard fought tussle with Plymouth Argyle.

Darren Ferguson's men took advantage of their bright start to the game after Sean St.Ledger headed in his first goal in a North End shirt this season.

Damien Johnson then equalised from the spot in the 69th minute for Paul Mariner's men meaning that the Lilywhites left Home Park with a draw.

There was just the one change for North End following last weekend's emphatic 3-0 victory at home to Cardiff City, with the returning Richard Chaplow slotting into central midfield for Paul Coutts who was serving a one match ban.

The man who received an abundance of praise in the press leading up to this fixture, Jon Parkin almost created a goal after just 23 seconds. Parkin played a clever pass through to Wallace in behind the Argyle defence but the Scotsman's strike just whistled over the bar.

This chance typified Preston's start to the game with Parkin proving to be a real handful for the Plymouth defence.

It was the 11th minute when the next meaningful chance came and it was Matt James who forced a good save from David Stockdale. Keith Treacy took the ball past Chris Barker at left back and the Irishman's low right footed cross fell to James inside the penalty area, but his effort was blocked by the advancing goalkeeper.

Preston began to shift through the gears and could have taken the lead two minutes after James' chance but Parkin's header fell wide. Neil Mellor did well to get the cross into Parkin as the striking pair were linking up well in attack.

North End's dominance turned into a goal though in the 18th minute as St.Ledger headed the visitors into the lead. Wallace whipped in an in swinging corner from the left and the stand-in skipper beat Stockdale to the ball and gave the Lilywhites a deserved lead.

This combination almost doubled North End's advantage four minutes later after Wallace's rasping free kick was parried by Stockdale into the defenders path but the ball rolled agonisingly wide of the post.

Following Preston's vibrant opening 25 minutes to the game, the Pilgrims began to press but the Lilywhites backline were absorbing the pressure very effectively.

Then in the 43rd minute, Andy Lonergan pulled off an incredible acrobatic save from Mason's header, with Lonergan somehow reacting quickly and tipping the header onto the roof of the net. This superb save ensured that Preston went into the break with the single goal lead.

It was Argyle who continued on the front foot for the second half and the first chance came to Mason. Luckily for Preston, Mason headed the ball down and into the welcome arms of Lonergan.

There was a concern for Ferguson in the 53rd minute when Wallace hobbled off after seemingly picking up a knock in the first half. Chris Sedgwick was the man who came on with Treacy switching over to the left hand side.

In the 67th minute, Lonergan was again there to thank when he superbly blocked a cross which was heading goalwards by second half substitute Craig Noone. From the resulting corner though, James went to clear the corner and the ball bobbled up and struck the midfielders arm. This resulted in the referee awarding a penalty. Johnson stepped up and stroked the penalty into the bottom left hand corner, sending Lonergan the wrong way.

Immediately after this equaliser, Ferguson shuffled his pack by bringing Chris Brown on up front for Mellor. Brown's introduction opened the game up with both sides probing and searching for the late winner.

A man who was really pulling out all of the stops though was Lonergan who pulled off another magnificent save with just three minutes remaining. After Argyle had rattled the crossbar, the ball fell out to Rory Fallon who headed the ball towards goal but Lonergan was quick to his feet and somehow tipped the ball over his crossbar.

This save ensured that North End left Home Park with a share of the spoils in a hard fought away clash for Preston North End.