Preston made it three wins in succession and climbed up to fifteenth position in the Championship with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Wolves.

Under the lights, and rain, at Deepdale, Alan Irvine's men showed great character to claim all three points after substitute Andy Keogh had given Wolves the lead on 52minutes.

But Preston hit back firstly through a Callum Davidson penalty before Simon Whaley struck with only ten minutes remaining to pull the Lilywhites further away from the relegation trapdoor.

It was the first time this season that North End had come from behind to record a victory and in the process extended their fantastic unbeaten record on a Tuesday night in the league at Deepdale to 32 games.

The win also made Saturday's derby against Blackpool an even more mouth-watering prospect with the knowledge that they can leapfrog their bitter rivals should they take the three points at Bloomfield Road.

Prior to kick-off Alan Irvine had the luxury of being able to name an unchanged side, meaning two-goal hero from Charlton Chris Brown was paired with loanee Tamas Priskin in attack, with the Hungarian making his home debut.

It was a frantic opening to proceedings with Wolves having a great opportunity to put themselves ahead with the first attack of the game.

Andy Lonergan who so far was enjoying a phenomenal season between the sticks, enhanced his chances of scooping the Player of the Year award by producing a superb one-on-one save to deny Edwards. The young midfielder had broken through the Preston defensive trap but found the on-rushing North End stopper in fine form as he stuck out his left hand to repel the effort.

In didn't take much longer for Preston to have their first attempt, with Tamas Priskin going up the other end and rifling in a shot from distance, which in turn was well held by Welshman Wayne Hennessey.

The fans in the Shankly Kop, obviously buoyed by the two recent away victories also started in fine voice, bellowing out chants of "PNE, PNE, PNE".

Despite the bright opening, the 20 minute spell that followed remained devoid of any real action, the only real half chance falling to Darren Carter who lost his footing having jinked through a couple of tackles.

Ebanks-Blake thought he had scored when his drive clipped the heel of Callum Davidson and skidded right across Lonergan's six-yard box but unfortunately for the £1.5m signing it landed the wrong side of the upright.

As the rain thudded down on Deepdale, Sean St Ledger was only a couple of inches away from giving Preston the lead on the half-hour mark when his powerful header from a Darren Carter corner, flew ever so slightly over the crossbar.

That chance started a positive passage of play from the home side and Simon Whaley, out on the left, troubled Hennessey with a low curling drive that almost caught the keeper by cold.

Priskin showed his willingness to work for the cause putting the Wolves backline under pressure and even committed himself into a crunching tackle on Craddock whilst also winning his own fair share of free-kicks too.

Chris Sedgwick had an 18-yard-effort fly over whilst Callum Davidson, on a marauding run from the left full-back position drilled in a skimming effort that deflected a foot or so wide of Wolves' right post.

It was a promising first half from North End who despite the difficult conditions dominated proceedings in general.

The half-time break saw Mick McCarthy wield one change, Andy Keogh replacing Rob Edwards with Wolves opting for a two-pronged attack.

Whatever both Managers said to their respective teams at half-time, it worked because there were more clear cut opportunities in the opening five minutes of the second half as there had been in the entirety of the first.

Within seconds of the restart, Billy Jones creamed an effort from all of 30-yards with his unflavoured left-foot that totally took everyone in the ground by surprise. The swerving attempt had Hennessey beaten only for the outside of the post to come to the rescue for Wolves.

Up the other end and Ebanks-Blake blazed wide whilst Chris Sedgwick strayed inside to hit a shot from distance that drifted over the crossbar.

The deadlock was broken on 53 minutes when substitute Andy Keogh found the net at the second time of asking. After his original shot had struck Mawene, the number nine reacted to skip forward a few paces and then place a shot low into the bottom right of the Preston goal, past the unmoved Andy Lonergan.

The recent results had instilled a new sense of confidence within the Preston camp and the boys came firing back.

Simon Whaley came close to equalising within minutes with a powerful drive through a host of bodies that was well held by the impressive Hennessey.

The opportunity to level the scores did arrive on 60 minutes when Chris Brown, latching on to great hold-up play from Priskin, took a tumble under a clumsy Darren Potter tackle inside the box.

Referee Moss had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Step forward Callum Davidson, who under pressure, showed nerves of steel to lace the ball home from 12 yards. It was some penalty from the 31-year-old Scot, right out of the Julian Dicks repertoire

The home support responded to the equaliser, and almost had another goal to cheer about when Chris Sedgwick almost headed North End into the lead seconds later.

Mick McCarthy's response was to replace Michael Gray and Stephen Elliott with Matty Jarvis and Darron Gibson with Alan Irvine also deciding to change things in attack briging on Neil Mellor for Tamas Priskin.

Simon Whaley went close with a pre-meditated free-kick as both sides went in search of a winner.

That duly came with 10 minutes left when Simon Whaley turned just inside the area and smashed home with aplomb. After great build up play involving Brown, Sedgwick and McKenna, Billy Jones picked out the unmarked number 15, who showed maturity and composure to bring the ball down before spinning and firing past Hennessey 14-yards out.

As expected Wolves applied late pressure in the remaining stages but couldn't make the most of a couple of corners and free-kicks won around the Preston box.

A chorus of boos and groans greeted the fourth official's digital board when four minutes of added time were displayed but they soon turned to cheers of delight when the referee put the whistle to his lips and blew the full-time whistle.

PNE: Lonergan, Jones, Mawene, St Ledger, Davidson, Whaley, McKenna ©, Carter, Sedgwick, Brown, Priskin (Mellor) (Subs not used: Chris Neal, Lewis Neal, Trotman, Hill)

Wolves: Hennessey, Collins, Craddock, Breen ©, Elokobi, Elliott (Gibson), Edwards (Keogh), Henry, Potter, Gray (Jarvis), Ebanks-Blake (Subs not used: Stack, Foley)

Goals: Keogh 52, Davidson (pen) 60, Whaley 81.

Yellow Cards: McKenna, Brown

Attendance: 12,090