Praise for Cresswell as Preston earn draw

Gillingham 1 Preston North End 1

Craig Brown, the Preston manager, praised the endeavours of Richard Cresswell after the forward struck in the 90th minute to earn his side a share of the spoils at Gillingham.

"Richard is a quality player and very underrated," said Brown. "This game was all about attitude and fitness and the team had a psychological edge because of the amount of work they did in training."

Brown would not have been so happy after a lacklustre first-half performance by his side allowed Gillingham to dictate most of the play, with front pairing of Guy Ipoua and Mamady Sidibe rampant.

The unorthodox duo worked together to worry the Preston defence, feeding off accurate through-balls. Ipoua's powerful running and Sidibe's invention were the highlights of a first-half characterised by sloppy play.

Although the home side dominated, they could not find a way past Tepi Moilanen in the Preston goal, and Graham Alexander almost snatched the lead for the visitors before half-time.

Andy Hessenthaler blasted against Moilanen on 48 minutes and a thunderous drive from Tommy Johnson 12 yards out forced the Finn into another impressive save.

Gillingham's pressure eventually told and they took the lead after an hour. Paul Shaw picked out the advancing Mark Saunders on the right and he took one touch before firing under Moilanen.

Gillingham never looked likely to add to their lead and Preston gradually got back into the game. Ricardo Fuller was unlucky to see a snap-shot from a Preston corner deflect off Cresswell's shoulder and over the crossbar when goal bound.

But Preston have made a habit of scoring late goals and did so again in injury time. A hopeful ball from Alexander deceived Nosworthy and dropped to the feet of the grateful Cresswell, who watched the ball bounce before slotting past Jason Brown in the Gillingham goal for a late, and perhaps undeserved equaliser.

Gillingham (4-4-2): Brown; Nosworthy, Ashby, Hope, Edge; Shaw, Smith, Saunders, Hessenthaler (Perpetuini, 78); Ipoua, Sidibe (Johnson, 44). Substitutes not used: Bartram (gk), Butters, James.

Preston (3-5-2): Moilanen; Broomes (Etuhu, 71), Jackson, Lucketti; Edwards, Skora (Keane, 90), McKenna, Alexander, Healy; Fuller, Cresswell. Substitutes not used: Lucas (gk), Murdoch, Cartwright.

Referee: M Fletcher (Worcester).