Preston North End's troubles worsened as they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Watford.
Captain Sean St Ledger took just 40 seconds to put North End ahead and Leon Clarke doubled the lead before half-time to put manager Phil Brown in position to pick up his first win as manager.
But Watford substitutes Matt Whichelow and Adam Thompson replied after the break to deal North End a major blow in their fight against relegation.
Preston were 10 points from safety with Brown choosing to keep Everton loanee Iain Turner in goal ahead of regular first-choice Andy Lonergan.
A poor pitch looked likely to make passing difficult but North End stunned everyone inside the first minute.
They won a corner straight from kick-off which Adam Barton played deep to Barry Nicholson whose attempted shot flew straight into the path of St Ledger who headed in from five yards.
It was the first time North End had scored before the 88th minute under Brown.
Keith Treacy who returned from injury almost played in Clarke as the visitors looked to take advantage of a slow start from Watford.
The Hornets were struggling to string two passes together and could have been two down but goalkeeper Scott Loach turned a powerful shot from Nicholson away to safety.
However, the Lillywhites' pressure paid off as they doubled their lead in the 37th minute.
The impressive Treacy was set free down the left and - in a carbon copy of the earlier chance - crossed for Clarke to slide in at the back post and finish from four yards out.
Clarke could have scored again in the final minute of the half but Loach did well to divert his chip wide before Ian Ashbee smashed a volley just over from the corner.
Mackay must have been livid with his side's woeful showing and made the two vital changes at the break as Whichelow and Thompson replaced Lloyd Doyley and Danny Drinkwater.
The hosts finally had a spell of pressure as Preston began to look nervous and Whichelow capped their first decent move of the night with a fine goal in the 69th minute.
The youngster exchanged a one-two with Weimann before skipping around a challenge on the edge of the area and curling a low shot beyond Turner into the bottom corner.
North End sub Darel Russell then crashed a 25-yard shot against the post but moments later the relegation favourites showed just why they are adrift at the bottom by conceding a terrible 79th-minute equaliser.
A free-kick on the halfway line was allowed to bounce inside the area and Thompson appeared unmarked to steer his first career goal past Turner to salvage what looked like an unlikely point for the homeside.
North End had surrended a two goal lead and although they picked up a point are nine points from safety with a game in hand.
Post match, North End boss Phil Brown blastsed the 'terrible' pitch:
""The first half performance was very encouraging on a pitch that was terrible.
"We got to 65 minutes 2-0 up but we shoot ourselves in the foot every week.
"We dropped two points and our immediate challenge is to get off the bottom and we had the chance to do that."
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