Argyle 2
Mackie 12, Wotton pen 75

Preston North End 2
Mellor 78, Chaplow 90

The Return of the Mack and Captain Comeback helped Argyle to an irrelevant draw in their penultimate home game of an interesting Coca-Cola Championship campaign.

The Pilgrims' play-off hopes, which hung by a thread before the game, are now extinct.

Jamie Mackie, making his full home debut, opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a quality long-range strike that owed much to the impudence of youth as anything else.

The lead was doubled midway through the second half when Paul Wotton, who had been left out the squad altogether in the Pilgrims' previous game, netted a trademark penalty for his first goal since October 2006.

Preston immediately replied through former Liverpool man Neil Mellor to make the last few minutes a nervous one for home fans, and those nerves spread to a defence which conceded a last-minute equalizer to Richard Chaplow.

Luggy had gone into the all-or-bust game with his all-or-bust line-up that was precious near 4-2-4 from the start, with the recalled Wotton and Jimmy Abdou manning the midfield fort.

Mackie was given his first home start on the left side of an attack that saw Rory Fallon partner, back in for the benched Jermaine Easter, Steve MacLean in the centre and Péter Halmosi on the right.

There was one change to the defence that began the 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Monday, too, with Jim Paterson dropping back from midfield to supplant Gary Sawyer on the left side. Given Stepover's penchant for going forward, and Paul Connolly not averse to getting forward when inclined, the Pilgrims' initial 11 contained but four defensive-minded players.

There was an attacking nod among the substitutes, too, where Gary Teale, who had not been expected to be fit for another week, was included alongside Easter.

Preston made three changes, one enforced, from the side that lost 2-1 at home to Barnsley in their previous fixture. Karl Hawley replaced the injured Chris Brown up front, while midfielders Darren Carter and Simon Whaley were dropped to the replacements instead of Lewis Neal and Chaplow.

The openness of Argyle's attacking intent, a greasy surface, a prolonged April shower, and a surprisingly upbeat Green Army made for an interesting start.

Preston broke through the Argyle midfield as often as you would expect from a side effectively outnumbered 2-1 in that department, although they were not helped by an early Connolly non-tackle that had all the hallmarks of a player whose future lies away from Home Park.

Mind you, with Preston defender Youl Mawene's comedy value not limited to his George Berry retro haircut, Argyle were not without their moments, notably from Fallon's problem-causing physique.

The goal came as a bolt from the blue by the most effervescent Green. Mackie had some help from Abdou, who won the ball for him, and from a slight Preston deflection that gave his 35-yard shot a dip, but there was no taking away the fact that it was a stunning strike.

Certainly, Preston goalkeeper Andy Longergan could do little more than wave at the ball as it looped over his head and crashed into the goal by way of the underside of the crossbar.

Having been berated by their manager for scoring too early at Hillsborough, there was no danger of Argyle's players defending their own 18-yard box. They did not have enough defenders, for one thing.

It offered Preston - wearing Argyle's yellow socks and playing with the wind towards the Devonport end - the chance of getting back into the game, and the busy Hawley managed to loose off a shot that Luke McCormick got down to well.

Preston were forced to take off centre-back Sean St Ledger before the interval and replaced him with former Oldham man Neal Trotman, an Argyle transfer-target in the January transfer-window, who was making his debut for the Lilywhites.

Mackie continued to excite, amuse, and baffle his opponents in equal measure, and his sheer force of will led to an excellent chance for Halmosi, who did everything right with Fallon's nod-down except get his left-foot shot on target.

The start of the second half belonged to Preston, who deprived Argyle of possession for large periods, but could not do much with the ball apart from keep it from Argyle. Russell Anderson, who looked the most proficient defender on the field, snuffed out a threat from Mellor.

Another Mellor attempt from long range seemed to suggest that another goal was coming, and it was not going to be from a man wearing an Argyle kit. Well, not an entire Argyle kit, anyway.

Luggy threw on another attacker, and such was his mood it was only mildly surprising that Jermaine Easter did not replace Timár - or even McCormick - but the Welshman came on for MacLean, who was unkindly applauded from the field.

It was Mackie, though, who drove Argyle up the field, and helped win a series of corners, from the last of which Preston foolishly conceded a penalty when Mawene wrestled Timár to the ground in front of referee Andy Penn. The Frenchman thus proved he was brave, as well as stupid.

Wotton blasted the ball high and to Lonergan's left, the opposite side to which the goalkeeper went.

It proved an important goal as Preston, who had brought on Whaley in the wake of the goal, immediately reduced the arrears to one again when Mellor got on the end of a punt and flick that rocked Argyle back.

Lilian Nalis was called into action as Luggy sought to protect the lead, though scores from Molineux and Vicarage Road, made this something of an unnecessary caution.

In the end, Chaplow struck with virtually the last kick of the game to kill off any lingering hopes of a dream finish to the season.

Argyle (4-4-2): 23 Luke McCormick; 2 Paul Connolly, 5 Krisztián Timár, 21 Russell Anderson, 3 Jim Paterson; 16 Péter Halmosi (4 Lilian Nalis 81), 26 Nadjim Abdou, 15 Paul Wotton (c), 25 Jamie Mackie (7 Gary Teale 90); 9 Steve MacLean (36 Jermaine Easter 63), 14 Rory Fallon. Substitutes (not used): 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, 20 Luke Summerfield.

Booked: Timár 47.

Preston North End (4-4-2): 1 Andrew Lonergan; 19 Billy Jones, 5 Youl Mawene 12 Sean St Ledger (21 Neal Trotman 31), 3 Callum Davidson; 7 Chris Sedgwick (11 Darren Carter 88), 16 Paul McKenna, 4 Richard Chaplow, 23 Lewis Neal (15 Simon Whaley 75); 8 Karl Hawley, 33 Neil Mellor. Substitutes (not used): 18 Matt Hill, 30 Chris Neal (gk).

Booked: Sedgwick 47, Mawene 74, Mellor 87.

Referee: Andy Penn (West Midlands).

Attendance: 10,727 (501 away).