Preston have a watertight defence these days and this showed again with Stoke being limited to playing on the break. However, they wasted a gilt edge chance early in the second half. A casual pass to Mears was intercepted and Stoke broke with four attackers against two defenders. They worked the situation well but blasted over from close range. A minute later the game turned as Darell Russell was sent off for what can only be described as a rash challenge. The whole of the crowd was stunned and this was one of many strange decisions the referee made throughout the game.
Preston who controlled the first half without creating too many chances tried to force home the one man advantage without success. Agyemang came on with time running out and it was his dummy that let Mears run into the box. The full back was then tripped and the referee pointed to the spot with three minutes remaining. However, Alexander the normal penalty taker was earlier substituted due to injury and all ten outfielder players stood debating who was to take the penalty. In the end mckenna took a poor penalty which the keeper saved and Preston came away with a point and stretch their unbeaten run to 22 games.
Attendance 13,218