It all seemed to be going so well for Notts with ten minutes to go at Preston on Saturday, with the Magies comfortably holding on to a point against the promotion hopefuls. But the seemingly inevitable defensive errors struck and, thanks to a Brian McLean header and inexplicable goal from Preston 'keeper Iain Turner, North End collected what, on the surface of it, looks like an easy three points.
With the loss of Ricky Ravenhill and Neal Bishop, Martin Allen was forced to change things around in midfield and give debuts to new signing Gavin Mahon and young Charlie Allen. A first half devoid of real goalscoring chances saw Hamza Bencherif twice come close for Notts, firstly heading over from a corner and then seeing his close range effort deflected off target after Jeff Hughes' flick in. Iain Turner was forced to beat away a shot from Karl Hawley, before North End created the best chance of the half. Full back Conor McLaughlin roam forward and crossed for Barry Nicholon, but he couldn't keep his header down from deep inside the box.
The second half started in insipid fashion, persuading Allen into making three earlly substitutions with Cristian Montano, Alan Judge and Ishmel Demontagnac all coming on. Stuart Nelson had to save well from Jamie Proctor's long range effort, whilst Alan Judge couldn't keep his effort on target from the edge of the box. Montano dragged an effort wide and Judge was again off target before Preston won it thanks to two moments of defensive madness.
Firstly, Brian McLean was able to head home unmarked from a corner after losing his marker, Krystian Pearce. Equally disappointing from Notts will be Stuart Nelson's failure to come and claim a ball just a couple of yards from his line, but that was nothing compared to the 'keeper's next howler. Preston goalie Iain Turner appeared to have overhit his kick forward to Neil Mellor, but Nelson inexplicable misjudged the bounce of the ball and let it float over him and into the empty net. It was a horrible moment that Nelson will not want to dwell on, whilst Notts would probably rather forget the afternoon as a whole.