Preston North End 2-2 Wycombe Wanderers: Jason McCarthy's own goal earns Preston a draw
- Published
Tom Barkhuizen pounced on a loose Wycombe header to score his fifth goal of the season after 14 minutes
An 87th minute own goal from Jason McCarthy earned Preston North End a point and denied Wycombe their first win in six games.
Tom Barkhuizen put Preston ahead at Deepdale after 14 minutes and they held the lead until early in the second half.
Garath McCleary equalised after 48 minutes and Scott Kashket put Wycombe ahead with fifteen minutes left.
But McCarthy made a mess of Scott Sinclair's cross and diverted the ball past Ryan Allsop to ensure the game ended in a draw.
Wycombe had an early let-off when Sinclair's 20-yard effort curled inches wide inside 60 seconds.
But the reprieve didn't last long as in-form Lilywhites forward Barkhuizen scored his fourth goal in five games after pouncing on a mistake.
Josh Knight's header sold his goalkeeper short and the alert Barkhuizen reacted quicker than anyone else to nod it over Allsop for the opener.
Wycombe responded well and were making chances of their own, with Adebayo Akinfenwa going close with a header.
They went closer still when Knight saw an effort cleared off the line by Ben Davies and McCleary's follow-up went behind for a corner.
The Chairboys were back on level terms when Daryl Horgan spotted the run of McCleary and slid the ball through for the forward to fire emphatically into the roof of the net.
It got better still for Wycombe when Scott Kashket grabbed his fourth of the season, finishing well after Joe Jacobson's 25-yard free-kick came back off the post.
It looked like being enough to claim the three points before McCarthy turned the ball into his own goal under pressure from Jayden Stockley.
Preston boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"It's been difficult for us in terms of injuries over this period. As you've seen with Ben (Pearson), it was innocuous, running towards the ball but there was no contact made and he just rocks his ankle.
"I thought when Ben went off it certainly took its toll on us. He's a natural building block in there that allows Daniel Johnson to play further up the pitch where I think he's most effective.
"Once he went off, we probably lacked a little bit of courage at times in terms of getting on the ball. Even when we did have that courage in the second half, we didn't move it well enough, so that was certainly disappointing."
Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"I'm gutted but it's a positive to [be able to] say that after not getting three points away at Preston, even though we deserved it.
"Having said that, you can't concede two goals. The first one is really sloppy, the second one is very unlucky.
"I think we could have had a few more ourselves today, we had some real clear-cut chances but unfortunately we didn't stick them in. You've got to do that in the Championship."