Preston North End's fine home form of 2008 came to an abrupt end at Deepdale after a scrappy affair against Crystal Palace. A Clinton Morrison strike on 76 minutes proved to be the difference between the two sides on an afternoon when the Lilywhites never really got out of the starting blocks.

Morrison pounced to smash the ball home in front of the Kop from one yard out after Victor Moses had headed on Ben Watson's corner from the right. It was a poor end to a disappointing afternoon for Alan Irvine's men who managed to stay clear of the relegation zone but now face two hugely important away games at Leicester and Charlton.

The Preston North End manager made just two changes to the side, both forced on him by differing circumstances. Matt Hill came in for Callum Davidson who was serving the first game of a two-match ban. In midfield Darren Carter returned at the expense of the unfortunate Richard Chaplow, the former Burnley man had not recovered from a slight hamstring pull that he picked up in the win over Stoke.

Palace boss Neil Warnock continued his policy of giving some of the club's talented youngsters first team experience and there was a full debut for Victor Moses up-front alongside Clinton Morrison.

Palace made the brighter start of the two sides and Victor Moses looked lively causing a few problems in the left channel. On ten minutes the youngster got around the back of the defence and clipped the ball across the six yard box, Mawene half-cleared and Morrison picked up the ball eight yards out and his shot was well blocked by Mawene.

North End's first moment of promise came in the 23rd minute when slick passing in the middle of the park led to McKenna slotting the ball through to Billy Jones on the right-wing, Jones looked to be clear but Victor Moses just caught the PNE defender and was shown the yellow card for his troubles.

Twenty-nine minutes into the game and Palace had a clear strike at goal. It came after Carter had inadvertently played the ball into the path of Ben Watson, just on the edge of the box. The Palace midfielder took a quick look up before hit a low effort towards goal that Lonergan did well to save.

The second yellow card of the afternoon came in the 32nd minute of the game when Lee Hills chipped a cross in from the left, Ifill arrived late to the back post, perhaps a little too late as he tried diverting the ball into the net with his hand.

Darren Carter was next to test his long-distance shooting prowess, it came after Brown won a free-kick after being shoved in the back by Lawrence, Brown's quick thinking saw him take a quick free-kick into the path of Carter and the PNE midfielder launched an effort towards goal from 25-yards.

Andy Lonergan had to be at his best to deny Paul Ifill five minutes before the break. It came after a clever move on the edge of the North End box, Moses dummied the ball into the path of Morrison who in turn knocked it onto Ifill who was unmarked inside the box, he hit a low drive to Lonergan's right and the keeper did excellently to parry the ball away, the ball came out to Moses but he was in an offside position as he attempted to poke home the rebound.

North End boss Alan Irvine made two changes at the break sending on Neil Mellor and Lewis Neal in place of Karl Hawley and Simon Whaley.

The second half followed much the same fashion as the first with the two sides suffocating the midfield areas and chances few and far between. North End's first big chance of the half didn't come until the 67th minute when a strong challenge from Paul McKenna in the middle of the park saw the ball land at the feet of Chris Sedgwick, the midfield man, now playing on the right took one touch before smashing the ball towards the top corner. Speroni had to be at his athletic best to tip the ball over the crossbar.

Five minutes later and Speroni had to be at his best again this time as Mellor. The PNE striker was running towards goal and had two Palace markers for close by so Mellor attempted an early shot that almost caught the Argentinean keeper unawares and Speroni was forced to tip the ball around the post.

From the resultant corner-kick Lewis Neal almost collected a goal on his return to the side. A well-worked corner routine from McKenna and Carter saw the ball played out to the edge of the box where Lewis Neal was waiting, he cracked a left-footed drive that looked goal bound before it clipped Sean Derry's shoulder to go behind for a corner.

One minute later and Preston were behind. Ben Watson clipped in a corner from the right and Victor Moses stooped to nod the ball towards goal, Clinton Morrison was waiting right on the goal-line, right in front of Andy Lonergan to smash the ball into the back of the net. It was was a cruel goal to concede for the Lilywhites after defence had done so well to keep Morrison and his team-mates at bay for the majority of the game.

Preston were shellshocked and it took them a good ten minutes before they could muster any real effort to get themselves back in the game. The last hurrah coming when Brett Ormerod headed Carter's deep corner across the face of goal and Chris Brown got his head to the ball only yards away from goal, in truth the ball could have gone anywhere but sadly for the Lilywhites it went straight into Speroni's grateful hands.

It was Preston's last chance of one of their most disappointing performances under Alan Irvine and with two games on the road to come they will have to make some big improvements if they are to take anything from the games at Leicester and Charlton.