A PUSHY attitude paid dividends for Dennis Wise as they denied Preston a much desired first win in five games with a 1-1 draw at Deepdale.

The Lions player manager adopted a four-pronged strike force towards the close of the game - and former Fulham striker Barry Hayles came up with the goods.

Wise later admitted "I thought maybe we should have been more direct, so I put four strikers on. We wanted to get a goal and to push at them.

"Unfortunately we didn't get a second goal. I am quite disappointed that we have not walked away with all three points, on the chances that we had.

"If we had scored a little bit earlier then Preston would have been in trouble."

Hayles grabbed his third goal of the season courtesy of a mix-up between keeper Jonathan Gould and skipper Chris Lucketti on 87 minutes.

This came as Gould was attempting to punch the ball clear. Matt Lawrence's pass gave Hayles space to create a looping header into the open goal.

The warning signs had been coming for around five minutes before that.

David Livermore had almost put Hayles in at the near post and then sub Paul Ifill saw a terrific blast rebound off the crossbar.

Preston must have thought they were home and dry before then. They went ahead through Eddie Lewis' clinical 15th-minute strike from the edge of the area, from Graham Alexander's pass.