Thriller ends level after Douglas late show
Jamie Douglas rescued a 3-3 draw for Preston in stoppage time with his first goal for the club to end a topsy-turvy Boxing Day tussle with Carlisle.
An absorbing first half was overshadowed by an early injury to Carlisle's Rory Loy in the opening 10 minutes following a committed challenge from David Gray, for which the North End full back was booked.
Loy was treated on the field for nine minutes before being taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.
Carlisle took the lead in the 20th minute as Lee Miller scored his eighth of the season from the penalty spot after the former Middlesbrough man went to ground under a challenge from Jamie McCombe.
If the penalty was soft, justice was served just four minutes later when Miller handled the ball in his own half and Iain Hume scored from the resulting free kick.
The referee pointed to the spot again in the 30th minute and Paul Parry dispatched to give Preston the lead after a foul by Lubomir Michalik on Hume.
However the match was all square before the interval as Frank Simek's low cross fell to Francois Zoko on the six yard box and the Ivory Coast striker turned deftly to smash the ball into the roof of Thorsten Stuckmann's net.
James Berrett fired the Cumbrian's in front midway through the second half when his long-range effort was deflected, wrong-footing Stuckmann.
Preston could have been forgiven for thinking it was not their day when Nathan Doyle's 30-yard pile driver hit both posts and somehow failed to cross the line.
Moments after the fourth official signalled four minutes of stoppage time, Paul Coutts went on a mazy run and drove the ball across the Carlisle goal where Douglas was waiting at the back post to tap in and save the day for North End.
Source: PA
Source: PA