PNE came away from tonight's friendly against Everton with a creditable draw in an entertaining clash at Deepdale.

In a game which had a cup clash feel rather than a pre-season stroll, Paul Simpson can depart for America satisfied that his squad put in a determined before their pre-seaon tour.

Simon Whaley had put the Lilywhites one goal up inside the opening quarter of an hour before the lively Victor Anichibe grabbed a fine equaliser with ten minutes left.

Both sides shared possesion in the opening 45 minutes with players looking to take advantage of the glorious Deepdale surface and get to hold of the ball in centre of the park.

James Vaughan missed the arguably the best opportunity of the game inside the first few minutes when he failed to put his head on a Julian Lescott knock-down from two yards.

The unfortunate striker was later carried off with a suspected dislocated shoulder after falling awkwardly in the centre of the park.

In a game officially billed as a 'friendly', Neil Mellor and Tony Hibbert raised the Deepdale atmosphere when they went nose to nose in the corner but sensibly the referee decided to issue a ticking off rather than wave his cards.

Whaley's goal came after neat work from the busy Patrick Agyemang. The muscular striker held the ball off before squaring to the former Bury forward who cooly slotted past Howard from the edge of the area.

Neil Mellor had a powerful shot turned over while Nuno Valente, James Beattie and Andy van der Meyde all blazed the ball into the Town End when they should have done better.

Paul Simpson rang the changes at half time as promised, replacing his entire side with the eleven substitutes named whilst Everton brought on Phil Neville and Phil Jagielka in place of Lee Carsley and Alan Stubbs.

The second half strike partnership of Karl Hawley and Brett Ormerod caused problems for the Toffees immediately following the break. The former Blackpool man smashed a shot against the bar on 50 minutes after neat work from Chris Sedgwick in the centre of the park. Hawley's pace and movement continued to worry the Everton back four and he was unlucky not to grab his second goal in as many games when he miskicked at the worst possible moment.

As the half wore on Everton applied more pressure with Anichebe being at the centre of every attack. Firstly, he forced a close range save by Henderson before firing in a left wing cross that was cleared at the last possible moment by Liam Chilvers.

However, the next attack proved more fruitful for the Everton forward and less so for the North End defender. Anichebe pounced on a weak back header before finishing with neat angled drive in front of the passionate away support.

Ormerod still had time to force a tidy save from Howard and Jagielka could have won it in stopage time with an unmarked header.

North End: Lonergan, Alexander, Davidson, Pugh, Mawene, Agyemang, St Ledger, Whaley, Nicholls, Nowland, Mellor (Subs:  Henderson, Chilvers, Collins, Hill, Jones, Sedgwick, Jarrett, Anyinsah, Neal, Ormerod, Hawley)

Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Lescott, Stubbs, Valente, de Silva, Carsley, van der Meyde, Arteta, Vaughan, Anichebe (Subs: Yobo, Beattie, Turner, Jagielka, Neville)

Attendance: 8,047