Attendance: 15,788 (1,169 PNE pre-sales).
Referee: Stephen Martin.
Let the train take the strain, on this away day, the right way to travel home by 7.30pm, highlight of the journey down, bloke gets on at Warrington thinks I'm sat in his seat, no issues there are spare ones arond so he goes sit in them, eventuallt transpired the bloke was going to Wolverhampton, the train he was on wasn't, tried not to laugh when he got off in London
Onto Millwall, disturbance during the silence, from the Millwall stands, the miscreant was dealt with by the home fans.
As for the game both sides had chances in a fast start Neghli probably should have done better, Thor for us produced a decent save from his effort from outside the box.
Took the lead, poor back pass Smith canny finish over the keeper 1 up.
We were average, passing was poor, and we gave them a bit too much room, they were dangerous down our left hand side, forced corner after corner, Taylor should have scored from about 10 yards out, but we hung on until about 10 minutes before the break
Then one of those moments which will go on the bloopers video, throw in back to Iversen, ball hits his standing foot, swings his lleft leg misses ball, tap in for the ever so grateful Ivanovic.
No criticism of the keeper, he's bailed us out more than once this season.
At the other end Crocombe close to have one his own keeper bloopers, cllearence charged down by Mads nearly went in.
Millwall dominated early stages of the second period, De Norrie narrowly wide, but our subs made a difference, no idea how Small didn't score after the ball squeezed under the keeper and Dobbin produced a decent save at the end.
So all square at the end, would have taken that at the beginning but just a thought we could possibly have sneeked it.
Two week break, three possible returning players, fourth in the league
HECK
Paul Heckingbottom reflected on a “good point” and the season so far following the draw at The Den.
Michael Smith put North End ahead against Millwall inside 15 minutes, before Mihailo Ivanović levelled for the hosts before half-time.
Both sides had chances to win it in the second 45, with Daniel Iversen brilliantly denying Ivanović, while Thierry Small and Lewis Dobbin came close for PNE in the late stages.
Hecky said: “It’s a good point. There’s lots of things I really enjoyed, especially in the second half. I really enjoyed us in the second half.
“I think the two goals probably sum up the quality in the first half. It was more a war of attrition. Millwall dropped onto far too many second balls, we didn't play enough forward passes, so we sort of played into their hands a little bit.
“We defended our box well with their set plays, but we needed to change something and we were much more aggressive against the ball in the second half. I just loved the mentality of the group.
“We were competing for more second balls. Ben [Whiteman] and Harrison [Armstrong] driving us on from midfield, the centre-backs winning the headers, Odel [Offiah] playing slightly higher, jumping on their full-back. I thought we were excellent second half.”
The draw in the capital makes it a seven-point week for North End heading into the international break, following wins over Southampton and Swansea City.
It also took PNE up to third in the Championship ahead of the 3pm kick-offs, reinforcing how positive the start to the season has been.
The manager said: “26 points from 15 [matches], it's good. You would always want more, but I think from where we were, with all the changes we've made, then how this week's gone and the people we've got out, I’m over the moon with just how the players have responded.
“I knew a lot of the players well but the new players, the young boys who have come in are showing a real good desire to win games. It can't always be pretty, it certainly wasn't today, but there's a real good determination about us which I enjoy.”
ALEX
Millwall boss Alex Neil told BBC London:
"I thought we were good in the first half and I was quite happy. The mistake is disappointing and it gives Preston a leg up. From there they are a hard team to break down.
"Defensively, we didn't want any silly mistakes and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb, but in the main, I thought we were by far the better side in the first half.
"We had a few opportunities, got in good spaces and areas and we were hoping something would drop for us - and then they made a mistake.
"We started the second half well but the game flipped in their favour when their subs came on. They had more energy and impetus and we had to defend well and Max made a good save.
"We certainly didn't deserve to lose and over the 90 minutes we probably edged it, but when it finishes like it did in the last 10-15 minutes we'll take the point.
"We had good moments but we missed the clinical edge, that moment of quality. We obviously want to get more of that."
Referee: Stephen Martin.
Let the train take the strain, on this away day, the right way to travel home by 7.30pm, highlight of the journey down, bloke gets on at Warrington thinks I'm sat in his seat, no issues there are spare ones arond so he goes sit in them, eventuallt transpired the bloke was going to Wolverhampton, the train he was on wasn't, tried not to laugh when he got off in London
Onto Millwall, disturbance during the silence, from the Millwall stands, the miscreant was dealt with by the home fans.
As for the game both sides had chances in a fast start Neghli probably should have done better, Thor for us produced a decent save from his effort from outside the box.
Took the lead, poor back pass Smith canny finish over the keeper 1 up.
We were average, passing was poor, and we gave them a bit too much room, they were dangerous down our left hand side, forced corner after corner, Taylor should have scored from about 10 yards out, but we hung on until about 10 minutes before the break
Then one of those moments which will go on the bloopers video, throw in back to Iversen, ball hits his standing foot, swings his lleft leg misses ball, tap in for the ever so grateful Ivanovic.
No criticism of the keeper, he's bailed us out more than once this season.
At the other end Crocombe close to have one his own keeper bloopers, cllearence charged down by Mads nearly went in.
Millwall dominated early stages of the second period, De Norrie narrowly wide, but our subs made a difference, no idea how Small didn't score after the ball squeezed under the keeper and Dobbin produced a decent save at the end.
So all square at the end, would have taken that at the beginning but just a thought we could possibly have sneeked it.
Two week break, three possible returning players, fourth in the league
HECK
Paul Heckingbottom reflected on a “good point” and the season so far following the draw at The Den.
Michael Smith put North End ahead against Millwall inside 15 minutes, before Mihailo Ivanović levelled for the hosts before half-time.
Both sides had chances to win it in the second 45, with Daniel Iversen brilliantly denying Ivanović, while Thierry Small and Lewis Dobbin came close for PNE in the late stages.
Hecky said: “It’s a good point. There’s lots of things I really enjoyed, especially in the second half. I really enjoyed us in the second half.
“I think the two goals probably sum up the quality in the first half. It was more a war of attrition. Millwall dropped onto far too many second balls, we didn't play enough forward passes, so we sort of played into their hands a little bit.
“We defended our box well with their set plays, but we needed to change something and we were much more aggressive against the ball in the second half. I just loved the mentality of the group.
“We were competing for more second balls. Ben [Whiteman] and Harrison [Armstrong] driving us on from midfield, the centre-backs winning the headers, Odel [Offiah] playing slightly higher, jumping on their full-back. I thought we were excellent second half.”
The draw in the capital makes it a seven-point week for North End heading into the international break, following wins over Southampton and Swansea City.
It also took PNE up to third in the Championship ahead of the 3pm kick-offs, reinforcing how positive the start to the season has been.
The manager said: “26 points from 15 [matches], it's good. You would always want more, but I think from where we were, with all the changes we've made, then how this week's gone and the people we've got out, I’m over the moon with just how the players have responded.
“I knew a lot of the players well but the new players, the young boys who have come in are showing a real good desire to win games. It can't always be pretty, it certainly wasn't today, but there's a real good determination about us which I enjoy.”
ALEX
Millwall boss Alex Neil told BBC London:
"I thought we were good in the first half and I was quite happy. The mistake is disappointing and it gives Preston a leg up. From there they are a hard team to break down.
"Defensively, we didn't want any silly mistakes and we gave ourselves a mountain to climb, but in the main, I thought we were by far the better side in the first half.
"We had a few opportunities, got in good spaces and areas and we were hoping something would drop for us - and then they made a mistake.
"We started the second half well but the game flipped in their favour when their subs came on. They had more energy and impetus and we had to defend well and Max made a good save.
"We certainly didn't deserve to lose and over the 90 minutes we probably edged it, but when it finishes like it did in the last 10-15 minutes we'll take the point.
"We had good moments but we missed the clinical edge, that moment of quality. We obviously want to get more of that."
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?