Lucky? That was more than lucky!

Nyron Nosworthy had a stinker, Jay McEveley, previously solid as a rock and excellent in possession, gave the ball away repeatedly, as did Nicky Southall, Micky Flynn never got into the game and Paul Smith was consipicuous by his absence, despite playing the entire match. Thankfully, after a poor performance, the skipper re-appeared in the nick of time to steal a hugely jammy (and rather amusing) draw for the Gills, cementing our reputation as Preston's bogey side.

For Preston, striker David Nugent looked an excellent signing. His movement and sharpness was very impressive to see. It's good to see a Championship club taking a chance on a player from the lower divisions - and former Bury striker Nugent was by far the best player on display today, despite only recovering from the mumps earlier in the week.

It was Nugent's shot which produced the opening goal of the game. The way he engineered space for himself to produce a snap shot goal was superb, but the way it ended up in the net was rather fortunate. Nugent's shot smacked against the post and was heading back into play when it hit the back of Jason Brown's head and nestled in the back of the net.

Gillingham spent the rest of the game on the back foot, giving the ball away through a succession of individual errors and aimless long punts upfield. Nyron Nosworthy was at his heart-stopping worst on a number of occasions, while Ian Cox trod the fine line between calmness and indecisiveness in defence.

The Gills had Jason Brown to thank for keeping the lead down to just the one goal, with a good display between the sticks. He was positive in dealing with long balls over the top, communicated well with his defence and made one stunning save to deny a superb goalbound strike from Nugent midway through the second half.

It was only in the final minutes that the Gills showed any real signs of life in a game that should have seen the visitors dead and buried well before then.

Stan Ternent threw on John Hills to play on the left side of midfield - and he immediately made a difference to the side. All of a sudden the Gills had width in attack - and it was Hills who forced the corner from which the Gills stole a last-gasp equaliser.

In the last minute of stoppage time, Southall drove the corner into the box and the ball found its way to the back post, where Paul Smith looped a header back across goal. The Preston defence stood statuesque, perhaps thinking the ball was going over the bar, but Smith's weak header dropped over the Preston defenders and into the far corner of the net, sending the Gills travelling faithful berserk. It was the softest of goals, but with other teams at the bottom picking up points, it was also a hugely important one for the Gills - and didn't the fans know it!

Throughout the game, the Gills fans shared some enthusiastic banter with the Preston fans seated across the stand in the Bill Shankly Kop. The Gills fans were on the receiving end for large parts of the game as events on the pitch looked like going PNE's way. However, the moment when Smith's header dropped into the net gave the away fans the sweetest moment, as chants of "Easy! Easy!" were sent across to the gobby youths who'd spent much of the game dishing out plenty of stick to the Gills fans for most of the second half. The rather amusing sight of pre-pubescent boys offering the Gills fans outside served only to add to the general hilarity surrounding Smith's totally undeserved equaliser.

Make no mistake, the Gills played poorly - as poorly as I've seen over an entire 90 minutes since Ternent's arrival - but despite their lack of quality on the day, they never stopped and never gave in. That spirit, plus a huge slice of good fortune, helped the Gills make a quick getaway from Deepdale, having mugged Preston of what could turn out to be a hugely important Championship point.