Richard Cresswell grabbed his second late goal in successive games to earn Preston a point at Gillingham.
The home side who lost their 100 per cent record at Norwich at the weekend conceded their first home goal, gifting Cresswell the chance as the clock ticked away towards the final whistle.
Graham Alexander crossed from the right, Nayron Nosworthy failed to clear and Cresswell, who scored in the second minute of added time in Saturday's 4-3 win over Stoke, was on target again much to the delight of the travelling fans who had made the long Bank Holiday trip south.
Cresswell said: "I think we deserved to get a point from the game. We have an attitude of keeping going until the final whistle and it served us well again here."
Preston had the better chances in the game particularly in the first half. Cresswell and Ricardo Fuller kept the Gillingham defence on their toes but although the chances came it was still goalless at half time.
Gillingham's best opening fell to Guy Ipoua but he couldn't finish, denied by goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen who raced off his line to parry the ball to safety.
Then just before the interval, Ipoua lost his strike partner Mamady Sidibe, carried off following a challenge by Paul McKenna. He suffered knee ligament damage and could be sidelined for at least a week.
Andy Hessenthaler tested Moilanen who had to fist away his effort at the near post.
Gillingham took the lead just past the hour mark when Paul Shaw played a one-two with Saunders and he drove in to the far corner for the goal to celebrate his first start of the season.
However, Cresswell's late equaliser disappointed Gillingham boss Hessenthaler who admitted: "It's a kick in the teeth to concede a goal so late. We had won the game one-nil but Nayron made a mistake and you can't give players like Cresswell chances like that."
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