THE Third Division's top two fought out a thrilling tussle on Saturday, but 90 minutes of foot-flowing football could not separate the high-flyers.

North End fans descended on Chester hoping to see their heroes inflict a stinging defeat on the table-toppers, though the pulsating heavyweight bout ended all-square.

Earlier this season PNE claimed a 2-0 victory over City at Deepdale and it looked like a repeat was on the cards when Steve Wilkinson struck after 22 minutes.

A bright opening from the whites was capped as Atkinson knocked the ball in and Wilks had little trouble in firing home past Chester's Billy Stewart.

PNE tried to build on their lead, but were stunned when the home side equalised on 34 minutes.

Richardson unleashed a rocket shot into the top corner to silence the hoards of travelling North Enders.

Both sides had their chances to steal the three points, but a mixture of poor finishing and solid defending ensured that each outfit had to be content with a point.

While PNE were coming away from the league leaders' back yard with a richly deserved point in the bag, rivals Gillingham were slipping up at Barnet.

Their 1-0 defeat put more distance between them and North End.

Preston boss Gary Peters was 'reasonably happy' with the result.

He said: "It shows how far we've come when my lads are fed up with a draw away to the table-toppers."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.