Yet another table topper went home from Deepdale empty-handed as Stoke went the same way as Watford and West Brom before them in Preston's superb run of home form since the turn of the new year.

Alan Irvine's men have won all their home games in the Championship since the start of 2008, and will reach the 54 point target with ease if they continue to produce performances of this calibre at home.

It wasn't all plain sailing for the Lilywhites, with Stoke offering a continual menace from set-plays, but Richard Chaplow's first and second goals for the Club secured him instant hero status - and crucially took the hosts out of the bottom three once again.

Both sides exhibited quality in the opening stages, but the game was too frantic and lacking in control to yield any decent chances. In fact, it resembled a bottom of the table scrap a tier above - a standard to which both sides would happily aspire to at this moment in time.

It took 22 minutes for a genuine opportunity to arise, but thankfully when it came, Preston were alert enough to take it. Paul McKenna swung the ball in from the right after Chris Brown was felled, and with Youl Mawene leaving the defence the wrong way round with a header back across goal, Chaplow was perfectly placed to thump the loose ball into an unguarded net.

Brown and Liam Chilvers were then both involved in keeping the Potters out at the other end as a scrappy chance was scrambled clear after a hectic scramble at the foot of the Town End goalpost. It was Mamady Sidibe's downward header from point blank range that caused the trouble, but the Preston pair were on hand to block and just about scramble the ball to touch.

A powerful low shot from centre half Ryan Shawcross as he met Liam Lawrence's corner asked further questions of the North End defence, but thankfully the shot only rippled the side netting. There was further concern when Ricardo Delap sent Ricardo Fuller clear, but again PNE were reprieved as their former hero slid the ball just wide of it's intended end point.

The industrious Chaplow was busy once again to cause trouble when Preston broke, eschewing the obvious option of Brown to hit a deeper cross to the completely unmarked Whaley at the back stick, only for the winger to head wide of target with a solid connection.

It was no surprise, though, that Chaplow was involved again as Preston netted a second, eleven minutes after initially taking the lead. Karl Hawley was the victim of some industrious defending from Shawcross who charged through him as though he wasn't too, and the Lilywhites were happy to be granted a free-kick inside the 'D'.

Paul McKenna was the obvious taker as he ran up with the supposed intention of curling the ball over the wall, but he instead stroked it invitingly into the path of his central midfield colleague. Chaplow ran onto the ball with glee and drilled it through a crowd of bodies - the end result a hugely satisfying rippling sensation as the ball found the netting.

Preston were forced to play for five minutes with only ten men as Callum Davidson rushed down the tunnel for treatment on a head wound, though fortunately they weren't meant to pay as Shawcross misguided a good headed chance shortly before his re-appearance.

Chilvers then inadvertantly found himself at the centre of controversy as Fuller went over as the pair tussled for the ball. Chiller appeared to win as he thumped the ball clear, but Fuller argued to the point of petulance that he should have had a penalty as the contact sent him tumbling, throwing himself to the ground in fury when the decision went against him.

The three minutes of stoppage time were as frantic as any other segment at the half, with the ball flashing from end to end with fury.

It ended without any further notches on the scorechart, but there should have been just moments into the second half. Rory Delap broke into the North End box and rounded Lonergan, squaring for Lawrence as a Stoke opener seemed a mere formality.

Instead, Lawrence delayed and delayed to the point at which he couldn't delay any more, and stabbed a shot that the bandaged figure of Davidson hacked off the line. The danger still wasn't clear, and Sidibe lined up the opportunity to net the rebound, but his shot comically came back off the legs of team-mate Cresswell who could do nothing to avoid blocking the chance on the line.

It was worth a goal to Preston in many ways, and they could have had another of their own as Whaley sliced a good chance to convert Sedgwick's deflected cross, but Sidibe fired another warning shot just over the top as the play switched quickly from one end to the other.

Lonergan was called upon to keep the two-goal buffer intact as Glenn Whelan slipped Fuller through on goal with a lovely incisive pass, but just as the Jamaican looked odds-on to chip the ball into the bottom corner, the former England U21 stopper produced another miracle save to continue his current run of blocks worthy of inclusion in the end of season highlights DVD.

Chaplow should have had a hat-trick, but it wasn't to be. Hawley held off Shawcross for an age with his back to goal, and his superb persistance seemed to have created the perfect opening as he turned the ball back into the six-yard box for Chaplow, but the midfielder's shot - with only Simonsen to beat - was weak and wide.

The recent signing from West Brom was immediately substituted, but presumably because of injury rather than any hint of fury from the bench after missing the chance. Having struggled with a tight hamstring since his arrival, he was replaced by Darren Carter, who was keen to show what he could do after being beaten to a place in the starting XI by the two-goal hero.

His introduction seemed to co-incide with a stunded segment of play, with the influential Leon Cort appearing to suffer a serious injury as play swept back upfield following a Stoke set piece.

The treatment stopped play for several minutes, after which Cort was replaced by Andy Wilkinson. The substitute defender was straight into the action with a valuable headed clearance to deny Brown as he appeared to be in the right place to nod in a lovely Whaley cross.

Hawley let fly from long range as he looked to net his first goal since the brace at Derby last month, but Simonsen was well placed to block his dipping shot - likewise Mawene was in the right place to block from Shawcross at the other end as another of Rory Delap's long throws caused mayhem in a crowded penalty area.

Billy Jones couldn't quite connect with Whaley's cross as chances continued to flow at both ends, while Carter was forced to use the wrong boot as the rebound landed on his right foot, the chance to convert from 18 yards not being taken.

Lawrence fired a free kick over the top as Stoke appeared to be running out of ideas, but they were still a persistent menance from any kind of dead ball situation.

Lonergan again denied Fuller one-on-one in the closing moments of normal time, and then held onto Parkin's header as the game entered the first of seven added minutes.

Neil Mellor replaced Hawley to a standing ovation in stoppage time after a job well done for the striker, and when the whistle finally sounded for full-time, the rest of the North End contingent could say the same.

PNE: Lonergan, Jones, Mawene, Chilvers, Davidson, Whaley, McKenna (capt), Chaplow (sub Carter 62), Sedgwick, Brown, Hawley (sub Mellor 90). Subs not used: Chris Neal, St Ledger, Ormerod.

Stoke: Simonsen, Griffin (capt), Cort (sub Wilkinson 70), Shawcross, Pugh, Lawrence, Delap, Whelan (sub Gallagher 81), Cresswell, Fuller, Sidibe (sub Parkin 70). Subs not used: Diao, Dickinson.

Bookings: Sedgwick (44); Pugh (45), Shawcross (66), Lawrence (76), Whelan (77)