Preston North End drew their third consecutive game at Deepdale after being held 1-1 with Crystal Palace.

The Lilywhites took the lead in the 34th minute after winger Ross Wallace curled in a superb 30-yard free kick.

However, Alan Irvine's men were unable to keep hold of this lead and Wallace's goal was soon cancelled out thanks to a superb Darren Ambrose strike.

Manager Alan Irvine made two changes from last week's 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough with Richard Chaplow returning into the centre of midfield and Chris Brown partnering Neil Mellor up front.

North End started the game brightly and tried to exploit the space in behind the Palace defence from the off, with wide men Wallace and Paul Parry running at their respective full back's.

It was Parry who had the first meaningful effort for North End in the seventh minute when Mellor made space for Parry but his curling left footed shot just flew past Julian Speroni's far post.

Irvine's men again tried to exploit the space in behind Palace's defence when Andy Lonergan pumped the ball up field to Mellor who did well to earn his side a corner. North End were unable to pile the Eagles under anymore pressure from that corner but this signalled the Lilywhites intent.

Mellor almost had a chance to put Preston ahead in the 16th minute after Billy Jones played a long ball to the striker but Jose Fonte intercepted well and put the ball out for a corner. Wallace whipped in the resulting corner which was met by Brown, who nodded the ball back to Jones but his header was cleared away off of the line from Danny Butterfield and out for another corner.

Wallace again whipped the corner in and this time Brown got a more telling connection to the ball, forcing a smart save out of Julian Speroni.

The possession was fairly even during the first half but Irvine's men were using the ball more to their advantage and looked the most likely to open the scoring at Deepdale.

This was almost the case in the 29th minute when Chaplow's free kick was attacked by Neill Collins but Claude Davis managed the clear the ball away for a corner. Again, North end were piling pressure on the away side but were just unable to find the finishing touches to break the deadlock.

The deadlock was broken in the 34th minute when Brown earned North End a free kick outside of the area and Wallace stepped up and curled the ball past Speroni and into the top corner.

Irvine would have been delighted that his side's constant pressure had paid off but this joy was short lived when the visiting side managed to equalise just three minutes later. Ambrose was given acres of space outside of Preston's penalty area following Alan Lee's knock down and the midfielder curled the ball into Lonergan's top corner to level the score line.

The equaliser seemed to have rattled North End and the tide had turned with Palace looking to grab a second goal soon after.

Just before the end of the half, Palace were presented with a free kick just outside of the area and Ambrose stepped up and curled the ball just wide of Lonergan's post, much to the relief of the North End players.

The second half started more steadily but it was Ambrose who was looking to increase Palace's lead in the 52nd minute but his long range effort was palmed away by Lonergan.

Nevertheless, Irvine made a double substitution in the 58th minute bringing Jon Parkin and Veliche Shumulikoski on for Darren Carter and Brown. This move almost paid off and minutes later, Parry jinked his way into the penalty area and knocked the ball into Parkin who was just unable to get a clean contact with the ball.

Deepdale was now rocking with the Bill Shankley Cop creating a great atmosphere but Irvine was to have one last throw of the dice. The Scotsman made his third and final substitution in the 65th minute with Chris Sedgwick coming on for Parry.

Following this substitution, there was controversy when North End were bizarrely denied a penalty. The ball was played in by Wallace and Shaun Derry seemed to handle the ball before it dropped to Parkin. The referee then blew his whistle and pointed to the spot but his linesman had his flag up for offside, denying North end the chance to regain the lead.

Preston continued to probe and Wallace almost scored his second free kick of the game in 75th minute but his effort cleared the wall only to fall into Speroni's arms.

In the 82nd minute, Preston had possibly the move of the match when Sedgwick won the ball in his own area, released the ball to Parkin who cleverly played the ball into Wallace. Wallace then laid the ball off to Chaplow on the edge of the area but his driven shot flew wide of the post.

Despite their increased pressure in the second half, North End were unable to break down a resolute Palace backline and had to settle for a third consecutive draw at Deepdale.