Brace yourselves for a white-knuckle ride in the final four matches of the season.

Welcome to the wacky world of the First Division relegation fight.

Deep into the second half at Withdean on Saturday, Albion were out of the drop zone, six points above seemingly doomed Sheffield Wednesday.

Just 19 minutes later the Seagulls found themselves back in the bottom three with only a place and two points to spare over the hooting Owls following their extraordinary victory from behind at Portsmouth.

Rest assured there are plenty more twists and turns to come. Wednesday's next two games are against Grimsby and Albion, Grimsby entertain Albion on the final day.

I'm tempted to describe it as a thriller but that choice of word may not be appreciated, considering a certain Michael Jackson opened the scoring for Preston.

So how should we regard this result? An escape since Stoke and Grimsby both lost as well or an opportunity missed?

Dave Beasant was in little doubt. "We all feel we let ourselves down," said the veteran keeper.

"We didn't play well as a team or individuals and we didn't play the type of football that has achieved victories for us at home in the last month.

"Although no great damage has been done the fact is we could have put some daylight between ourselves and Stoke.

"If we win all our games and they win all theirs they are the ones that stay up, so they have got the initiative at the moment."

It might have been worse for Albion. Beasant could have been sent-off and consequently banned when he appeared to baulk Preston's young striker Pawel Abbott inside the area in the closing stages.

To be without the 44-year-old's calming influence for any part of the run-in is almost unthinkable, especially as it would expose the inexperienced Will Packham to this tensest of situations in the absence of the injured Michel Kuipers.

Fortunately, it did not come to that. Craig Brown, Preston's normally mild-mannered manager, was sent-off instead for encroaching onto the pitch to protest to referee Lee Cable at his refusal to award a spot-kick.

The Preston players, as Beasant pointed out, did themselves no favours with some theatrical attempts to win penalties in the first half, the last of which led to a booking for Frenchman Eric Skora for diving.

"I anticipated where he (Abbott) was going and we half bumped into each other," insisted Beasant.

"You always wonder if the ref is going to see it that way. I think he got it right but I know Craig Brown won't agree with me."

An apologetic Brown was annoyed that Cable "smirked and smiled".

He added: "I was perhaps a little enthusiastic in my appeal for justice. We had a free-kick against Burnley last week which TV replays showed had clearly crossed the line and I was smarting from that.

"Brighton fans in the stand were sympathising. They thought it was a penalty. I didn't use any abusive language. That was only to the players at half time."

Albion should have been ahead by then. Danny Cullip crashed a close-range shot against a post following a long throw by Kerry Mayo.

Seconds later Bobby Zamora's header from a Richard Carpenter corner thumped against the crossbar.

Centre half Jackson broke the deadlock on 71 minutes with a powerful header from Graham Alexander's corner.

It was a carbon-copy of partner Chris Lucketti's opener in the 2-2 draw between the teams at Deepdale in November and an awful way for Albion to concede at home for the first time in more than seven and a half hours.

A repeat of Preston's 2-0 victory in the FA Cup at Withdean last season was completed by the ever-dangerous Richard Cresswell four minutes from time.

He capped his 100th appearance for the club with a solo run and shot from the edge of the area in off a post, his 16th of the campaign.

Albion's performance, even in the first half, had a strangely lacklustre end-of-season feel to it.

Boss Steve Coppell attributed that in part to a drying pitch which made slick passing difficult.

"There wasn't a real bite about our play," he admitted. "There were a few players who were very good on TV against Reading but weren't so good today."

Paul Kitson, fresh from his scoring impact as a sub at Reading, almost equalised shortly after coming on.

He first effort was saved by David Lucas, his follow up cleared off the line by Lucketti.

Coppell said: "On a different occasion a draw was probably the right result and a draw would have been valuable to us.

"It goes back to the goal we gave away which, the way we prepare, was poor."

Indeed it was, but don't bet against Albion adding to the rollercoaster relegation drama by putting things right against Micky Adams' Leicester.

ALBION (4-3-3): Beasant (gk) 7; Watson (rb) 6, Mayo (lb) 6, Cullip (cd) 6, Hart (lw) 6, Brooker (m) 6, Carpenter (m) 7, Ingimarsson (cd) 7, Zamora (cf) 6, Barrett (rw) 6, Rodger (m) 7. Subs: Oatway, Pethick, Jones for Brooker (withdrawn 76), Packham, Kitson for Barrett (withdrawn 76). BOOKINGS: Cullip (90) foul.

PRESTON (4-4-2): Lucas; Alexander, O'Neil, Jackson, McKenna, Lewis, Abbott, Lucketti, Mears, Cresswell, Skora. Subs: Etuhu for Skora (injured 76), Cartwright for Lewis (withdrawn 80), Edwards, Lynch, Gould. SCORERS: Jackson (71), Cresswell (86). BOOKINGS: Skora (24) foul, O'Neil (33) unsporting behaviour.

Referee: L. Cable (Woking). Venue: Withdean. Attendance: 6,669. Pitch conditions: Very good. Weather: Chilly, light rain.

Fan's View, by Paul Weekes (Shoreham): "What more can you say? The advantage gained by the win at Reading has been thrown away. Four games left, 12 points to play for. We need a classic Albion backs-to-the-wall performance at Leicester and at least a point, with Zamora and Kitson proving they are both Premiership class. We need back to back home wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Watford. We need the opportunity to go into the last game at Grimsby with something to play for."