Preston North End failed to make it three victories in succession, succumbing 3-1 away to Stoke City.
Leon Cort was the hero for the Potters grabbing a goal in each half to seal the points. Sandwiched in between were goals for former North Ender Richard Cresswell and Chris Brown, who had temporarily brought the score back to 2-1 midway through the second half.
Realistically the advantage had been gained in the first period as having got themselves ahead, Tony Pulis' men never looked like throwing away a victory that moved them up to fourth in the Championship table.
As expected, it was a gritty contest with Stoke deploying tactics that relied heavily on their expertise from set-pieces, with two of their three goals coming from deadball situations.
If it isn't broke, don't fix it was Manager Alan Irvine's message before the game as he decided to stick with the same starting XI that did fantastically well against Watford in the previous outing.
That meant a successive starting berth for Karl Hawley, and it was the former Carlisle man who had the first run on goal within minutes of the kick-off. When Chaplow released the number eight with a clever slide rule pass, the forward raced through but he was deemed to have handled the ball when he developed a position to test keeper Steve Simonsen from 10 yards out.
Possession exchanged hands in the first ten minutes before North End got a foot on the ball and enjoyed a period of play where they earned a couple of corners. In between was a Callum Davidson free-kick, from similar distance that he scored from earlier in the season at Cardiff. This time when the ball was set to him by skipper Paul McKenna, his shot hit a defender rather than the back of the net.
However, it was Stoke who opened the scoring when the two centre halves combined. Rory Delap put his capabilities on the long throw to full effect launching a missile into the area which Leon Cort managed to guide past Andy Lonergan. His slight flick was enough to beat the North End stopper as the ball trickled in with help from the far post.
The goal had come from absolutely nowhere and North End had to regroup. A flowing move from flank to flank, involving Chaplow, Whaley and St Ledger resulted in Paul McKenna smashing an effort from just outside the area. The 30-year-old still to wait for his first goal of the season as it struck Shawcross en route to goal.
Former Lilywhite Danny Pugh wasted an opportunity to double the lead when he failed to control a Fuller cross, but the Potters didn't have to wait long for their second of the game. When Andy Lonergan spilled a deep Liam Lawrence cross, Richard Cresswell was on hand to tap in from a matter of yards on 27 minutes.
Whaley had a snap-shot gathered by Simonsen whilst Danny Pugh, again sneaking in at the far post volleyed wide from a promising position.
Stoke continued to press for the remainder of the half launching a series of testing balls into the box for the PNE backline to deal with. The crowd wailed for a penalty when Fuller took a tumble in the area, falling rather dubiously after alleged contact with Richard Chaplow, but it was in optimism more than anything.
Out on the right, Whaley forged half an opening for Chris Brown in the latter minutes of the half after skinning Dickinson but Preston couldn't get themselves back into the game before the interval.
No changes were made at the break as the opening exchanges of the second period followed a similar pattern of that in the first. Whenever a throw in was earned within the Preston half, Shawcross and Delap hurled the ball goalwards. Andy Lonergan had to be on red alert when Youl Mawene, inadvertently steered the ball towards his own net, the PNE stopper acrobatically palming away a misdirected header from the Frenchman.
Up the other end and North End tried to claw their way back into the game. When the ball struck the stray arm of a Stoke defender, the 1,500 or so travelling supporters vented their anger towards referee Atwell at his decision not to award a spot-kick.
Chris Brown used his height to steer a header just over the crossbar in the same sustained period of pressure, as another penalty claim fell on deaf ears when Sean St Ledger had his route to goal seemingly upended by Richard Cresswell.
Neil Mellor's introduction on the hour mark sparked a large cheer from Lilywhite fans as they hoped his introduction could have a similar impact to that of the Watford match a week prior.
However it was his fellow strike partner who pulled Preston back into the game. After Lewis Neal had knocked back a deep cross from Simon Whaley, Chris Brown in his second match, prodded home from close range with just over 20 minutes to go.
The joy was shot lived as only four minutes later, Leon Cort grabbed his second goal of the game to restore the two goal cushion. The centre-half towered to head in a Liam Lawrence right-wing corner, beating Andy Lonergan and Simon Whaley on the goal line.
Substitute Darren Carter tried his luck from distance, his speculative effort finishing well wide of Simonsen's left-hand post as the yellows tried to fight back. It was the first of two long range attempts as Paul McKenna hit a similar effort towards goal a minute later, this time it was a mirror image as his right-footed stinger landed a foot or two the wrong side of the other post.
In the dying minutes, Davidson blocked a weaving Danny Pugh run-and-shot and Simon Whaley volleyed vide as Stoke manager Tony Pulis craftily utilised his substitutions wisely to wind down the clock.
The vast majority of the loyal PNE supporters stayed to the full time whistle but it wasn't to be as North End came away point-less from their visit to the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke: Simonsen, Dickinson, Cort, Shawcross, Griffin, Pugh, Eustace, Delap (Parkin 86), Lawrence (Diao 77) , Fuller (Pericard 82), Cresswell (Subs not used: Hoult, Zakuani).
PNE: Lonergan, Davidson, Mawene, Chilvers, St Ledger, Neal, Chaplow (Carter 66), McKenna, Whaley, Brown, Hawley (Mellor 59) (Subs not used: Chris Neal, Hill, Sedgwick).
Goals: Cort (16), Cresswell (25), Brown (67), Cort (72)
Yellow Cards: None
Attendance: 15,011
