Liam Millar’s outstanding 89th-minute strike earned Preston North End a 2-1 victory over Leeds United at a sold-out Deepdale, after Alan Browne had netted earlier.
PNE battled well in an entertaining first half of Sky Bet Championship football, before the game took a twist ten minutes into the second as goalkeeper Illan Meslier was sent off for pushing Milutin Osmajić in the face.
Within two minutes, Browne headed his side into the lead from 12 yards, but Pascal Struijk brought the visitors level in the 83rd minute from the penalty spot.
Millar – a bright spark all afternoon – then came up with a piece of brilliance in the final stages to send Deepdale into raptures.
Ryan Lowe made five changes from the side which lost to Swansea City, with goalscorer Millar one of those coming in to start.
The Canadian was lively right from the off and, on 14 minutes, sent in a dangerous low cross towards Milutin Osmajić which was cleared, before then whistling the ball right across the face of goal – just out of the reach of skipper Alan Browne.
Leeds could have benefited from a couple of set pieces around the 20-minute mark, however Joe Rodon headed both wide, while Liam Lindsay soon made two important blocks.
Millar almost came up with another moment of magic in the 34th minute when his trickery bought him some time to shape up a dipping effort from distance, which Meslier did well to reach and tip over.
Duane Holmes got in behind in first-half stoppage-time but opted to cut back to Ali McCann instead of crossing, and the midfielder sent the strike into the sold-out away end.
Daniel Farke’s side came out quickly in the second half and Piroe may have had a free shot on goal if it wasn’t for a brilliant last-ditch interception from Ben Whiteman.
The game heated up in the 53rd minute when goalkeeper Meslier went head-to-head with Whiteman, before the ‘keeper then turned to Osmajić and pushed him in the face, leaving Josh Smith no choice but to send Leeds’ No.1 off.
With Karl Darlow coming on to fill the space between the sticks, it took just two minutes for North End to take the lead as Millar sent an inch-perfect cross right on to the head of Browne, who nodded into the far corner.
PNE were comfortably the side on top immediately following the goal, with the backing of a raucous crowd, enjoying plenty of the ball and getting in behind the Leeds defence, although goalkeeper Darlow was untested.
The visitors made a triple change to try and turn the tie, and they came close to levelling 15 minutes from time when Georginio Rutter’s effort from 20 yards was deflected inches wide.
Leeds were handed a golden opportunity to level in the 84th minute when Ali McCann was ruled to have brought down Dan James inside the area, and Struijk stepped up to slot home.
The visitors would have hoped they could kick on from that point, but PNE and Millar had other ideas, as the pacey winger topped off a superb individual performance with an unbelievable curling strike into the top corner.
Eight minutes of additional time were then navigated and PNE took a deserved three points.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Potts, Whatmough, Lindsay, Hughes; McCann; Holmes (Frøkjær, 84), Browne (Ledson, 90+6), Whiteman, Millar; Osmajić (Evans, 72). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Keane, Storey, Woodburn, Best.
Leeds United line-up: Meslier; Gray, Rodon, Struijk, Spence (Gnonto, 68); Ampadu (Bamford, 90), Kamara (Gruev, 68); James, Piroe (Darlow, 55), Summerville (Joseph, 68); Rutter. Subs not used: Firpo, Cooper, Anthony, Bryam.
Attendance: 21,816 (5,667 Leeds United fans).
Referee: Mr J Smith.