Ched Evans’ second goal off the bench this week earned Preston North End a point at home to league leaders Fulham.
It was the Cottagers who went ahead early in the first half through Tim Ream, but Evans – on the back of his header midweek against Middlesbrough – drew his side level 72 minutes in, on the end of Ben Whiteman’s corner.
Frankie McAvoy made one change from the midweek victory over Middlesbrough, with Liam Lindsay slotting into the centre of defence due to the absence of Patrick Bauer through injury.
Fulham opened the scoring within the first quarter of an hour, with centre back Ream tapping home on the end of a Jean Michael Seri free-kick from the right touchline.
North End’s first shot of the game came halfway through the opening period, with Whiteman sending a chipped ball over the top for Emil Riis, who took the ball down well but he sliced his effort wide of goal.
Fulham were seeing more of the ball – without putting Iversen’s goal under any major pressure – and at the other end Riis again looked bright, chasing the ball high up the pitch before cutting in and seeing his shot deflected inches wide at the near post.
Soon after, Whiteman tried his luck from distance, with goalkeeper Rodak equal to it, before Riis was sent through onto the right side of the box by Sepp van den Berg and he slammed the ball across goal, but it was a Fulham man who was on the end of it to clear.
Both sides came out unchanged after the break, but the visitors may have found themselves a man down on another day as Antonee Robinson received a yellow card for a crunching tackle on Tom Barkhuizen, who looked to make his way into the box, and he was later forced off as a result of the challenge.
On 54 minutes, Riis tested Rodak with a low, powerful, left-footed effort from 20 yards, which unsighted the goalkeeper, but he did manage to get there down to his right to save.
North End continued on the front foot, with the game being played predominantly in Fulham’s half, and they got their reward on 72 minutes when substitute Evans bundled home Whiteman’s corner from the left to draw his side level for the second game in a row.
PNE could have snatched a winner too, wth both Andrew Hughes and Alan Browne seeing efforts fizz over the crossbar, but the points were shared at Deepdale.
PNE line-up: Iversen; van den Berg, Lindsay, Hughes (Cunningham, 90+4); Barkhuizen (Storey, 53), McCann, Whiteman, Browne, Earl; Maguire (Evans, 60), Riis. Subs not used: Hudson, Johnson, Ledson, Sinclair.
Fulham line-up: Rodak; Robinson, Ream, Adarabioyo, Odoi; Reed, Seri (Onomah, 69); Kebano (Decordova-Reid, 69), Carvalho (Knockaert, 82), Wilson; Mitrovic. Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Tete, Hector, Muniz.
Referee: Mr C Kavanagh
Attendance: 9,838 (886 away fans)