Captain Callum Davidson capped a fine first afternoon in charge of the Lilywhites' armband by smashing home a pressure-drenched 95th minute penalty, sealing a superb fightback from 2-0 down with eight minutes to play on an enthralling opening afternoon of the campaign.

Sweat was pouring off every brow on a scorching opening day at Deepdale as the Scotsman prepared to steal a point from a frantic first day fixture, but the home support need not have been so tense with our very own 'Mr Dependable' in place to do the deed.

It capped an amazing match to open the new Championship campaign with City having raced into a two-goal lead after the break, only for Preston's fightback to be secured through morale-boosting efforts from Davidson, and earlier the cult hero Jon Parkin.

In a relatively slow start, both teams had spent the opening ten minutes working one another out, but a snapshot from Mellor - reacting well to a lofted pass from debutant Shumulikoski - brought the very best out of another man making his first start, Dean Gerken, who thrust a firm hand to the ball to prevent the ball from crossing his line, but he had to pounce on the subsequently bouncing ball to stop Mellor from latching onto his own rebound.

North End spent an encouragingly long time in threatening areas of the field in the opening stages, and had reason to believe they were within a shout of a penalty as Billy Jones' chip into the six yard box seemed to come perilously close to the arm of skipper Louis Carey, but referee Mike Oliver ruled that it didn't.

The pressure kept coming from Preston, and the other new face in the line-up, Paul Parry, soon made himself familiar to the home faithful by forcing another punched save out of Gerken, and as the pressure persisted he tried his luck again from an angle, but Liam Fontaine got their just in time to slide an ankle in line with the shot and gratefully concede a corner.

Captain Carey was another man in the right place at the right time as Preston broke from a short period of visiting pressure, Parry working the ball into the box for Mellor, only for the opposing centre half to whip the ball off his toes as he prepared to shoot.

The Mellor and Parkin combination looked to be working well for PNE as they shaped a few openings towards the back end of the half, and the ease with which Shumulikoski and Parry had fitted into the line-up was a pleasing site - the former even attempting a shot from some 25 yards that would have been more troublesome to Gerken had an interception off Paul Hartley's ankle not taken the sting off the ball.

Parkin then looked destined to score from Ross Wallace's set piece cross from the right flank just 90 seconds before the conclusion of the first period, but first up he missed his kick from point blank range, and then when he got a second attempt to stab at the ball, Carey once again saved his side's bacon by hacking the ball off the line, with part of the ball certainly appearing to have been over the whitewash when the key connection was made.

There was still time for one last key moment at the end of a very watchable opening 45 minutes of the season, and PNE will certainly feel they should have used it to their advantage. Sean St. Ledger's header from the right wing corner was yet another chance blocked on the line - this time by Fontaine - and Youl Mawene then contrived to turn the ball over the bar from around six yards out.

Having been under the kosh for much of the first half, City came out a side transformed straight after the break. Maynard's shot within a minute of play's resumption was turned wide of the post for a succession of Hartley corners, and though Preston broke from the second, Neil Mellor couldn't pick out the pass that would have sent Richard Chaplow into the clear. Instead, he was dispossessed, and despite a valiant effort to try and track back and pick up the advancing Maynard, the striker went down under pressure from the forward and Mawene inside the box: penalty kick.

The French defender was the man the referee deemed to be at fault and issued a yellow card, and Paul Hartley struck the penalty into the bottom left corner as he looked at the net, securing a goal four minutes into the second half of his debut.

One become two after a further nine minutes had elapsed, with yet another key involvement from men making their debuts. Danny Haynes' pace took him from half way to near the edge of the box within a matter of moments, and with the speed of the break giving North End scant time to bring defensive cover back, Haynes' diagonal pass sent David Clarkson into plentiful space, which he gleefully used to great effect, firmly placing the ball under Andy Lonergan's advancing body.

A moment of hesitation from the re-start nearly gave Bristol a third and Preston a mountain to climb, but fortunately Maynard didn't show the same level of sharpness with his shooting as his dispossessing, drifting the ball wide of the far post with just Lonergan and a relatively unfavourable angle between him and the goal.

Preston knew they had to throw the kitchen sink at City as the game rolled into its final 20 minutes, while the south west side's defence knew they had to show equal commitment to the cause to keep hold of the promised points.

That was epitomised as Parry's vicious shot was charged down by Lewin Nyatanga - some shouting for a penalty for handball to no avail - and a subsequent follow-up block from Fontaine to keep away Chaplow's stinging effort, the defender literally charging into the path of the ball in full flight.

After keeping the pressure coming, North End got their reward with eight minutes to play, with Jon Parkin the man to make the breakthrough. Wallace's cross from the right was intended for St. Ledger who climed for an aerial challenge, and though he couldn't divert it towards goal, he successfully worked it into the path of 'The Beast', who volleyed the ball into the bottom corner to keep hope alive.

Straight from the kick-off, however, City nearly regained their two goal cushion as Maynard hared through the back line to work himself into a similar channel to the one from which Clarkson had earlier scored, but this time Lonergan was wise to the trick, and palmed the ball onto the roof of the net to keep Preston in it.

It was an all-action finale as confusion reigned at the back - Parry's deflected shot punched wide by Gerken for a corner, and Jones' point blank shot from the following corner scrambled wide in a melee of understandably concerned red-shirted men.

Fontaine then appeared to tackle Parkin through the medium of grappling his shirt as he prepared to shump an equalising chance, but the referee ignored PNE's penalty claims for a third time, and when substitute Cole Skuse tackled fellow replacement Barry Nicholson just six yards from a gaping goal in the final minute, the game looked up for the home side.

Four minutes of added time offered some hope of salvation, but little did PNE realise that hope would materialise into ecstacy five minutes later.

Paul Parry's shot from just inches from the goal was turned over the top by Gerkin with the four minutes having elapsed that very moment, but Parkin was felled as he attacked the following corner, and PNE had the lifeline of all lifelines to cling onto.

Captain Callum Davidson, the man who has such a good track record from 12 yards, stepped up to secure a fairytale first day as skipper, and... you can guess the rest.

PNE: Lonergan, Jones, Mawene, St. Ledger, Davidson (capt), Parry, Shumulikoski (sub Nicholson 66), Chaplow, Wallace, Parkin, Mellor (sub Brown 66). Subs not used: Henderson, Sedgwick, Chilvers, Nolan, Elliott.

Bristol City: Gerken, Orr, McAllister, Carey (capt), Fontaine, Nyatanga, Hartley (sub Williams 75), Elliott, Clarkson (sub Skuse 75), Maynard, Haynes (sub Sproule 81). Subs not used: Basso, Johnson, Akinde, Wilson.

Referee: Mike Oliver

Attendance: 13,024