Milutin Osmajic came off the bench to rescue a point for Preston in a thrilling 2-2 draw with fellow play-off hopefuls Watford at Deepdale.

The 26-year-old returned to the squad after his three-match suspension and bagged his sixth goal of the season on 70 minutes to claw the Lilywhites level.

Preston had taken the lead through a well-taken Lewis Dobbin strike in the 19th minute but were pegged back by Othmane Maamma's cool 55th-minute leveller and fell behind due to an unfortunate own goal from Odel Offiah two minutes later.

It was the first match in charge for new Watford boss Edward Still, brother of former Southampton manager Will, and the 35-year-old would have been pleased with his team's second-half efforts.

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Watford nearly shot themselves in the foot in the opening stages with Saba Goglichidze reacting brilliantly to block Dobbin's goal-bond strike after Daniel Jebbison found his strike partner in the box.

After a decent start, North End got themselves in front as Dobbin got in front of Matthew Pollock to direct Ben Whiteman's low ball across Egil Selvik and into the corner.

At the other end, Maamma nearly turned provider for an equaliser in the 34th minute, picking out Luca Kjerrumgaard in the six-yard box, only for Dai Cornell to make an excellent save, and the Welshman also had to be on his toes to keep hold of Imran Louza's long-range effort seven minutes later.

Watford started the second half strongly and Maamma burst in behind and forced Cornell into a save at his near post but, just a minute later, the all-action Moroccan found himself in bags of space on the left and he shifted inside Jordan Storey before sliding the ball into the corner for his fourth goal of the campaign.

Momentum had suddenly swung and Watford stormed into the lead as Offiah inexplicably turned half-time substitute Kwadwo Baah's drilled cross into his own net.

Watford were in control and then, against the run of play, substitute Osmajic levelled with almost a carbon-copy of Maamma's goal, shifting inside of Pollock after latching onto Dobbin's pass, but the Montenegrin instead powered a strike past Selvik at his near post.

Nonetheless, the visitors continued to probe, and twice nearly restored their lead in spectacular fashion as Edo Kayembe volleyed narrowly wide via a deflection from 20 yards before Nampalys Mendy rattled the inside of the post with another volley from 25 yards.

Still's men looked likelier to win but Storey headed over Alfie Devine's free-kick in added time from a decent position in the game's final chance.

The managers

Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:

It was a good game to watch, we've learned lots of things.

"You're frustrated when you don't win but I also know we went behind and were a dangerous team and as we were pushing they were countering us all the time.

"For us to get back in the game and score that good goal, I'm not displeased with the performance, I'm just frustrated that we weren't able to take it through.

"I shouldn't really feel this flat but for some reason I do because I know it was a good game. I enjoyed the effort and the spirit and the moments and the spells of the game [that we] played well. It's just frustrating."

Watford's Ed Still:

"We had to stretch them and once you can do that, it will open up the space in the midfield to be able to control the ball a little bit more which is exactly what happened.

"We managed to find Maamma a little bit more [as well] so the second half was really positive.

"We've conceded a goal from a throw-in where we're not quite sharp enough in the box so we have to get better at that quickly, and the second goal is in transition where we've got an overload on the midline and we can manage that better as well.

"There are things we can improve on and we need to improve quickly to be able to capitalise on the good stuff that we've done."

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