Coventry City 1-1 Preston North End: Fabio Tavares cancels out Dan Johnson spot-kick in late drama

Fabio Tavares came on in the 94th minute, then scored in the 98th minute for his first Coventry goal on only his second appearance

Coventry City rescued a point against bogey side Preston as substitute Fabio Tavares equalised with the last kick of the game in a dramatic finale involving two red cards at the CBS Arena.

After having defender Liam Lindsay sent off on 84 minutes for a second yellow-card offence, 10-man North End then went ahead with just a minute of normal time left.

Coventry defender Fankaty Dabo became the second player to see red when he was adjudged to have brought down Emil Riis Jakobsen - and Daniel Johnson converted the resulting penalty.

But, just four minutes after coming on, Tavares then curled in a 98th-minute equaliser to rescue a point to deny aggrieved Preston boss Ryan Lowe and keep Mark Robins' Coventry, who drop to 10th, within three points of the play-off pack.

Following on from Tuesday's 89th-minute Viktor Gyokeres winner at Bristol City and Dom Hyam's injury-time winner last weekend against Barnsley, the Tavares strike was the 10th time in the Championship this season that late-goal specialists City have had a dramatic final word - of which five have been match-winners and three match-savers.

For all the Sky Blues' relief at rescuing a point, the promotion hopefuls are now winless in 17 league meetings with Preston - a run stretching back to September 2007.

But it was still a remarkable end to an otherwise nondescript game, which for so long looked destined to end 0-0, largely because of home keeper Simon Moore.

North End striker Ched Evans was twice denied on the break by Moore, who continued to thwart him after the interval, as well as reacting to on-loan Villa striker Cameron Archer's deflected shot and tipping Johnson's curler round the post.

Coventry's draw with Preston did not come alive until the final six minutes and injury time

But the game erupted when Lindsay was booked for a second time for clattering Gyokeres into the advertising hoardings.

It looked like that might give Coventry the green light to go on and win it but, inside two minutes, referee Keith Stroud evened things up when Riis went over in the box and Dabo was shown his second red card of the season.

After a three-minute delay because of pitch encroachments by angry home supporters, Johnson stepped up to send Moore the wrong way.

But 12th-placed Preston were denied a third consecutive away win when last season's deadline day signing Tavares cut inside to fire into the top corner for his first Sky Blues goal on only his second appearance -.

That led to a complaint from visiting boss Lowe that the hosts had scored their equaliser in the time added on following the three-minute fan-induced delay between Dabo being sent off and Preston finally taking their penalty, but opposite number Robins was quick to point out the other causes of Mr Stroud allowing so much added time.

As a result of the Coventry fans' pitch invasion, there were three minutes between the penalty being awarded and it being taken

Coventry City boss Mark Robins told BBC CWR:

"The people that came onto the pitch deserve everything they get coming to them, because that is sacrosanct. Stay off the pitch. You earn the right to be on that football pitch. They haven't earned the right to be on it.

"It's happening more and more frequently and they shouldn't be allowed back in. That's a disgrace, an absolute non-starter, a criminal offence.

"At the end of the day I'm sure he's complained about the minutes added on because of people invading on the pitch. That isn't what contributed to the added-on time. That was because of the fouls, the sending-offs. All those things culminated in what was added on.

"But they can complain as much as they like. Ultimately, it's a big point for us. We celebrated a goal that they didn't want us to celebrate. I don't think you're allowed to celebrate against them."

Preston boss Ryan Lowe:

"When you put six minutes up and you play seven minutes 20 seconds, it's definitely tough to take. I'm a little bit disappointed with how things were going off, people running on the pitch, threatening players and running round, it shouldn't happen.

"But we probably could have done better in terms of the foul, Hughesie's slipped and the ball dropped down and the kid scored a great goal but I'm quite firm here. If it's six minutes it's six minutes. It's not any longer

"There was only one team that was going to win it when we got a man sent off but then we went down the other end and got a penalty.

"But we've still come to a place where they've been winning games of late, a good team, well coached, well managed."