Brentford arrested a slump of two straight defeats with a bruising 1-1 draw with Brentford.
Bees winger Florian Jozefzoon cancelled out Tom Barkhuizen's opener as North End had to see out the final 16 minutes without Greg Cunningham after the left-back saw red for a second bookable challenge on the Brentford goalscorer.
Barkhuizen opened the scoring in the 54th minute with a whipped cross from the left that eluded everyone and flew just inside the far post.
But the Londoners hit back with a superb Jozefzoon strike eight minutes later as he chested the ball down on the edge of the box and flashed a low drive inside the near post.
You can see how the game happened with our live blog from the contest.
How did the Bees perform?
Ollie Watkins was, in our reporter's eyes, the star man for the Bees as he caused Preston problems going forward at all times.
His trickery was on display from first minute to last as the Bees produced a solid, if not spectacular performance.
No player scored below a six for the Bees and you can see the full ratings here.
What did Dean Smith have to say about the performance?
Frustration was, once again, the word of the day for Brentford as they were unable to turn their dominance into three points as has been a common theme of the season.
Dean Smith added: “It is a good point but a frustrating point. We should have got three points today as our performance was good.
“Defensively we were good. They had a couple of chances in the first five minutes but other than that we defended well.”
Smith's full comments on the game can be found here.
Why did Smith make all those changes?
Dean Smith has explained why he made five changes for Brentford's draw with Preston, revealing that three of them were enforced.
Chris Mepham dropped out of the starting XI after coming down with an illness on the eve of the game.
Ryan Woods, on the other hand, was unable to shake off an ankle knock sustained against Derby, while Sergi Canos started his three match ban.
His explanation can be found here.
What did Alex Neil have to say?
The Preston boss felt his side had been hard done by at Brentford from referee Simon Hooper.
The Lilywhites had Greg Cunningham sent off after he picked up two yellow cards in the space of 90 seconds and the visiting boss felt if his captain had to walk then Josh McEachran should have seen red for bringing down Callum Robinson as he was racing through on goal in the first half.
And Neil also felt that Tommy Spurr's disallowed goal for offside midway through the first half was actually onside, due to a Brentford full back playing him on.
His full quotes can be read here
How did Neal Maupay play?
John Egan was impressed with the Frenchman's performance as Maupay caused the visiting defenders problems throughout the time he was on the pitch.
He added to the club's official site: “I thought that Neal (Maupay) had a very good game in that position today. He linked the play well and found some good positions.
“He shows in training during the week that he’s a very good player and you could see that today. He should take confidence from his performance; hopefully he can kick on now.”
His full comments, including on departed striker Lasse Vibe, can be read here.
What else can be taken away from the game?
It's a common theme that teams come to Griffin Park and look to disrupt Brentford's flow by committing tactical fouls and time-wasting.
In recent weeks, the only two teams who have attempted to play football have been Fulham and Aston Villa and the Bees played both of them off the park.
It's all very well saying it's a compliment to the Bees as opponents know they can't live with their football but the problem is Dean Smith's side haven't yet worked out how to properly deal with it.
