IT ENDED up a tale of two Gallaghers, writes Simon Smith.

Local boy and former Rovers hero Paul came on for an impressive cameo - almost blunted by a reducer from Danny Guthrie - and played a pass for that heartbreaking late equaliser that showed that he took something from his time at Ewood working alongside Tugay.

The current recipient of the ‘Ooh Ahh Gallacher/Gallagher’ chant also jumped off the bench, but Sam Gallagher only succeeded in also contributing to Preston’s injury-time leveller through Aiden McGeady..

The positive that, due to that goal, I was forced to take from the game was that it was a terrific derby between two decent teams.

That Preston were in the top third of the division and Rovers are in the bottom three does point towards us having enough to climb out of the relegation zone and feel positive for 2017/18.

But no club is ever too good to go down and great performances don’t automatically accrue enough points.

However, as of Saturday Tony Mowbray’s side had played seven unbeaten games in the 24 days since he took over.

Fatigue took its course and if for the first time the substitutions were enforced early by weariness, then it just shows how much effort players are putting in since his arrival.

So, for pretty much the first time, I embrace the international break as TM has time to work on things in depth and for players to rest/recover.

We are all impatient, we are after all football fans, but the situation Mowbray took over requires more than an Elastoplast to fix it.

Two tough away games follow and Rovers may end up further behind the lower teams, but the next six games after that are all definitely winnable.

The home games will require a vibrant Ewood.

There have been disappointments lately but those stay-aways are missing some really good football.

Please set aside your well-earned peeves and come back to the fold just for these games and play your part in keeping YOUR team up.

We need to take the club back from the abyss before we can take it back from anyone else.