Preston 1-1 West Brom: North End hold unbeaten Baggies to draw at Deepdale
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West Bromwich Albion remain unbeaten in eight league games this season
Promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion were held to their third Championship draw in a week as they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils against Preston North End at Deepdale.
Preston also drew their third game on the trot after picking up points on the road at Bristol City and Sheffield United.
And Frankie McAvoy's side briefly looked on for a third successive home league win when they took the lead on 26 minutes.
Emil Riis set up midfielder Ben Whiteman - and his right-foot shot from outside the box found the bottom right corner for his second goal in successive home games.
But Matt Phillips also netted his second goal of the campaign when he levelled two minutes into first-half injury time with a header into the bottom left corner.
That stretched the Baggies' unbeaten league record this season to eight games, leaving Val Ismael's men in third, while North End keep out of the drop zone with a move up to 17th.
After three substitute appearances, Jordan Hugill made his first West Bromwich Albion appearance against his old club
Albion created the better openings but it was the hosts who went ahead when Daniel Johnson's firm tackle in midfield bounced kindly for Riis and when his flick freed Whiteman on the edge of the box, his deflected strike flew past England international Sam Johnstone.
But the Baggies levelled courtesy of their main supply line this season when Darnell Furlong's long throw caused major panic inside the crowded box and Phillips stooped to bravely nod past Preston keeper Daniel Iversen.
Phillips stepped away from two tackles to curl an effort over and Grady Diangana forced Iversen to claw out his cross-shot just before the hour mark. And both had chances to snatch all three points after a host of changes.
But Ryan Ledson's driven effort was acrobatically kept out by Johnstone before Karlan Grant then slipped in Jordan Hugill, only for Iversen to come quickly off his line to make a brave block and deny the on-loan Norwich City striker a late winner on his full Baggies debut against his former club.
Albion are next in action this Friday night when they host QPR, while Preston go to St Andrew's the following day to play Birmingham City.
Preston boss Frankie McAvoy:
"The players have done what I asked them to do and I am pleased with that. The guys have absolutely worked their socks off.
"They gave everything out there today and because of that, thankfully we have kept our unbeaten run going.
"We knew what was coming from West Brom after the break and the team reacted brilliantly. I'm delighted by the way we stood up to the challenge."
West Bromwich Albion boss Val Ismael:
"The problem was the quality of the final pass and the quality of crosses. They were not good enough.
"When you get a chance to score you have to take it. We have to develop that killer instinct in front of goal.
"Our opponents had two shots on target in the whole game and scored a deflected goal against us."