A 25-yard screamer from Sean MacAuley gave Preston the lead 15 minutes into the match, but Dan Gerrard's header midway through the second half secured a point for the visitors from City Park.

This tie has taken on something of an added spice of late. Last season's corresponding fixture ended 2-1 to the Prestonpans side, a result which effectively killed off Spartans' title ambitions.

"There's a long way to go in the league," summed up Lawson, "and it's going to be very wide open this season. After our poor first half we'll maybe settle for a point, but we'll have to wait and see where these results leave us later on in the season."

Spartans were nearly in front in the first minute. A mix up between goalkeeper and defender gave Nicky Walker a sniff of a chance at stealing the ball, but the home side eventually cleared the ball.

Although Spartans started the brighter, Sean MacAuley gave Preston the lead in the 17th minute. The midfielder received the ball just out from the right hand corner of the Spartans box, and looped a half volley over the defence. The ball flew into the right hand corner of the net, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

Flockhart had to palm away a Jamie Campbell strike in the 21st minute and a couple of minutes later Bryan Wilson flashed a strike across the six yard box after picking up a pass from Craig Manson.

Spartans rung the changes at half time. Struan Preston came on for Dean Hoskins as the visitors went two up front, which opened out the game.

The effect of Preston's introduction was nearly immediate. A few minutes after the restart, he threaded a ball through to Nicky Walker on the edge of Athletic's penalty box. Walker shrugged off his marker, but his shot from the D struck the inside of the right hand post and sped back across the goal line before Gilpin could mop up the loose ball.

The equaliser arrived, however, in the 66th minute. Preston gave away a free kick midway inside their own half, ten yards in from the touchline. Robbie Manson launched the set-piece into the danger area, and the ball dropped down to the far post, where Gerrard was on hand to head the ball into the net.

Both teams had chances to win the match. Preston's best effort came in the 78th minute when Stuart Miller got on the end of Chris Barton's long throw-in but headed just over the bar.

At the other end Omar Kader got in behind the Preston defence but dragged his short range effort wide.

For Preston boss, Stevie Myatt, Saturday's outcome was another reasonable result, but one which, like the result against Dalbeattie last weekend, could have been better had it not been for conceding a soft equaliser. "The players worked really hard against a good side. We scored against the run of play, but the goal settled us down and we could have had another in the first half."

"We gave them an extra man in midfield but they didn't hurt us and we limited the number of chances they got. But it was a set-piece again that cost us the win. Against Dalbeattie last Saturday we took the lead in the first half and were the better team but then gave away a poor free kick which they took advantage of. It was the same again today."

Meanwhile, Spartans boss Lawson said: "We're very disappointed with the performance and the result, but I think after the matches we've just had against Pollock in front of big crowds, whoever or wherever we were going to play on Saturday, it was going to take some adjustment.

"After the pace we have played for the last two weeks we got sucked into the pace they wanted to play. We could have scored in the first few seconds but after that the game slowed down and we let them dictate things.

"We made a change at half time and controlled the second half but they were always going to be dangerous on the break."



Preston Athletic: Gilpin, Cathcart, McCaul, Costello, Barton, MacAuley, Campbell (Cairnie 70), McLaughlin (McColl 74), Miller, Manson, Wilson. Subs not used: Campion, Houston.

Spartans: Flockhart, Gerrard, Hoskins (Preston 46), Archibald, Fowlie, O'Donnell, King (Livingstone 70), Kader, Walker, Manson, Henretty (Devlin 84). Subs not used: Malin, Young.

Referee: Brian Colvin