Preston North End succumbed to a 3-2 defeat in a thrilling game against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.

All five goals were scored in an action packed first half with West Brom racing into a two goal lead inside the first ten minutes after goals from Ben Watson and Chris Brunt, before Sean St. Ledger pulled a goal back in the 14th minute.

Albion then secured a two goal cushion following a spectacular free kick and this goal despite Neil Mellor's strike in the 42nd minute, this was enough to give the Baggies the three points in an action packed game in the Black Country.

There were two changes to the starting line-up with Michael Hart and Richard Chaplow coming in for Billy Jones and Paul Coutts who dropped out of the squad. Due to this, there were two spaces vacated on the bench for youngster Adam Barton and youth team Captain George Miller.

North End started the liveliest and carved out the first chance of the game in the fifth minute. Liam Chilvers spread the ball over to Callum Davidson on the left whose deft touch fed Ross Wallace in the penalty area, but the wingers cross was cleared away.

Moments after this chance, North End found themselves a goal down from West Brom's first effort of the game. Robert Koren played a one-two with Ishmael Miller before feeding through Watson who beat the offside trap and shot low under Andy Lonergan to open the scoring.

Just two minutes after this goal, Albion doubled their lead after again managing to beat the offside trap. Brunt was the man this time who was played clean through and the midfielder coolly slotted the ball past Lonergan to give the home side an unprecedented early lead.

This was a huge blow to the Lilywhites but Ferguson's men didn't roll over and got their reward in the 14th minute courtesy of St. Ledger.

Chris Sedgwick won a corner for North End after his header forced a smart save from Scott Carson at his front post. From the resulting corner, Wallace delivered a teasing in swinging ball which was met by a diving header from St. Ledger.

The Irish international's goal was his second in a Preston shirt this season and this header seemed to rattle Roberto Di Matteo's men, with North End now playing on the front foot and searching for an equaliser.

Despite this continued pressure by Ferguson's men, the Baggies were denied a third goal in the 24th minute after a superb goal line clearance by St. Ledger. The ball was whipped in by Brunt on the left hand side and Preston's centre half somehow managed to scoop the ball away from Miller who was expertly denied an easy tap-in.

This explosive game had a fourth goal in just the 32nd minute and Dorrans secured another two goal cushion for West Brom with a spectacular free kick. Davidson fouled Miller around 35-yards from goal and up-stepped Dorrans who struck a stunning free kick into the top corner past Lonergan who managed to get a fingertip to the ball.

Just when you thought that this half couldn't get anymore exciting, Preston scored the fifth goal of the afternoon in the 42nd minute through a man who is currently in goalscoring form. Wallace played a teasing ball in behind the West Brom defence and Mellor beat the offside trap and found himself one-on-one with Carson. Mellor rounded Carson inside the penalty area and then powered the ball past Marek Cech on the goal line.

Mellor's strike was the last meaningful bit of action in a hotly contested end-to-end first half in which Preston reduced a two goal deficit on two separate occasions to keep themselves within touching distance of Di Matteo's side.

The second half started at a similar pace to that of the first and the Lilywhites were extremely close to levelling the score in the 50th minute. Mellor was fouled by Abdoulaye Meite just outside of the penalty area which earned the big centre half a booking.

Former West Brom midfielder Chaplow stepped up to take the resulting free kick and forced a smart save from Carson who was quickly down to his right hand side to push the ball away for a corner.

Chaplow's free kick proved to be one of the best openings in the start of the half as Preston were enjoying a good spell of possession, posing the biggest threat out of the two sides.

On the hour mark, Albion tested Preston's resolve after firstly, Lonergan denied Watson's shot with a fine save and then from the resulting corner, North End were able to scramble the ball away and out of the danger zone. Moments later, Lonergan pulled off a magnificent double save which kept his side in this pulsating game.

Following this string of saves by Preston's number one, the speed of the game went down a few notches as the next goal in this game was going to be crucial to the outcome of proceedings.

Ferguson made a double substitution in the 81st minute with Jon Parkin and Keith Treacy coming on for Sedgwick and Chris Brown. Despite these changes, Preston were unable to force the opening and were unable to secure a point in a game that started so openly but petered out towards the end.