Preston North End 2-2 Cardiff City: Yakou Meite strikes dramatic late leveller to earn Bluebirds precious point

Cardiff City salvaged a point in stoppage time at Deepdale thanks to a dramatic late equaliser by Yakou Meite - and who knows how important that might be.

A dire defensive display in both halves meant Preston North End didn't have to work overly hard for their two goals and they should have scored far more, all things considered.

Milutin Osmajic took advantage of comically poor Bluebirds defending early in the first half to hand Paul Heckingbottom's side the lead. Will Alves then came on at the break and made a big difference for City, popping up with his first senior goal to get Cardiff back on terms.

But more passive defending late on allowed Stefan Thordarson to head home what looked like the winner 20 minutes from time, which appeared to stick dagger into Omer Riza and his side. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

However, when all hope seemed to have gone, substitute Alex Robertson clipped in a cross in time-added-on and Meite ghosted in around the back of the defence to hammer home the leveller. How significant that strike will be come May is anyone's guess.

Riza, as he often likes to do, tinkered with his lineup for the trip to Deepdale. He opted for more physicality in his back line and brought in Jesper Daland and Dimitrios Goutas to add some power to his defence.

However, the new shape and the different look had an adverse effect. After earning a clean sheet at Loftus Road at the weekend, the Bluebirds looked so charitable from the off in Lancashire.

Horrendous defending from Daland, Goutas, Andy Rinomhota and Will Fish earned North End their first big chance. Fish gifted the ball to Will Keane inside the Cardiff area and the forward slotted home with just nine minutes on the board. Fortunately for