Preston halted a run of three straight defeats with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home to managerless Millwall.
Now without the departed Gary Rowett, the Lions turned in a solid display as the hosts struggled to find a way through their resolute defence.
An at-times feisty encounter produced an eye-catching opening half-an-hour, but after that it never really scaled the heights at any point.
Preston’s Duane Holmes had already gone close before Adam Barrett’s second stint in caretaker charge of the Lions got off to a nightmare start.
In only the third minute a smart North End move culminated with Will Keane flicking the ball to Mads Frokjaer-Jensen, and the talented Dane coolly slotted past Bartosz Bialkowski from 12 yards.
Ryan Lowe’s hosts had flown out of the blocks, but Millwall were then thwarted by the woodwork in the eighth minute.
Aidomo Emakhu darted down the right before seeing a deflected strike brilliantly palmed onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
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A real ding-dong battle continued with North End going close again when Holmes ran energetically through the middle before his rasping shot was beaten away by Bialkowski.
At the other end, Emakhu charged towards the heart of the North End defence before seeing Woodman calmly hold on to his 20-yard drive.
A cracking strike evened the scores on the half-hour mark as Allan Campbell played a neat touch to Zian Flemming, with the Dutchman then curling home sweetly into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Millwall created the first opening of the second period, with tidy approach play setting up Campbell inside the box, but he fired disappointingly straight at Woodman.
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As the Lions continued to press, Flemming dived in spectacularly but could not quite stretch enough to meet Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s super cross.
Finally the hosts found themselves some forward rhythm, only for the Lions’ rear-guard to continually stand strong.
As the 70-minute mark passed there was precious little goalmouth incident, though North End threatened when Brad Potts’ volleyed cross deflected off Millwall’s Joe Bryan before being saved by an alert Bialkowski.
Ched Evans – on as a substitute after missing seven months out injured – also went close with a flicked header.
Millwall replied with Flemming firing a rather disappointing free-kick way off target with the final action of the game, something that summed up what had been a hugely below-par effort from both teams in the second 45 minutes.
The managers
Preston’s Ryan Lowe:
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Millwall caretaker Adam Barrett:
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