Preston extended their unbeaten Deepdale run to ten games after seeing off Play-Off rivals Ipswich in arguably the most exciting tussle of the season so far.

In a game that swung from end to end, both sides performed with excellent tempo and quality to underline their status as two of the division's most promising candidates for the end of season promotion lottery, and it was largely due to the efforts of a number of men returning to the North End side.

Callum Davidson, back from a calf injury sustained a month earlier at Swansea, stepped up just five minutes into his comeback to fire his side into the lead, and later goals from Jon Parkin and Stephen Elliott secured it for a North End side inspired by the lively Simon Whaley on his first Deepdale start since the home opener against Crystal Palace.

In a rare move, the North End team sheet displayed four changes from the side that started the previous game at Southampton, but the side looked no less familiar for the alterations. Perhaps most intriguing was the first starting inclusion for Simon Whaley since August 23rd, but the faces of Callum Davidson, Youl Mawene and Richard Chaplow were all very much familiar.

The move - a mixture of necessity and managerial choice - paid off. Barely four minutes had elapsed when the 'new look' Preston were presented with a golden chance to take the lead. Steven Elliott's persistence meant he wasn't prepared to let a ball run dead behind the goal from Whaley's floated pass in behind the back-line, and in doing so he drew the attention of Alex Bruce, who hauled man rather than ball into touch.

Initially, the referee seemed reluctant to award North End their due, but the intervention of yellow-flagged assistant, Mr Newbold, ensured that he signalled the infringement and the hosts got their penalty in front of the Kop.

Following a delay in which Bruce voiciferously protested his innocence, the importance of the returning Davidson became apparent - the power on the shot strong enough to force it under the body of Richard Wright who had correctly dived to his right, albeit not quite quickly enough.

It was the perfect response to any lingering pressure that may have been felt by Prestonians off the back of the previous weekend's disappointment at St Mary's Stadium, and it gave the side a cushion with which to soften the impact of the Ipswich attacking pressure that followed.

Fortunately, that pressure didn't lead to anything too troublesome, though Pablo Counago's shot had to be deflected behind as it flashed through Youl Mawene and Billy Jones, and from the resulting corner, Andy Lonergan was well placed to make a comfortable catch as Jon Stead through his head at Alan Quinn's corner.

Preston had half a shout for a second penalty as last man and skipper Gareth McAuley tugged at Jon Parkin's shirt, but the forward's lack of protest as the referee waved play on in the 20th minute was perhaps telling as to the correct outcome.

Good vision from Paul McKenna carved out a further chance to double the lead - he threaded a free kick from a relatively nondescript left wing position into a more threatening spot just outside the box, and there Whaley met it with venom - perhaps too much so as the ball narrowly cleared the bar.

David Norris showed equally impressive foresight in picking out his left winger Luciano Civelli on the half hour, but North End were given a let off as the un-marked Argentinian failed miserably in his bid to hit the target, the inconsequential offside flag perhaps coming to his aid.

It maybe should have been a warning though, as Civelli fashioned the equaliser just a minute later at the start of a tale of two handballs. He fed the ball from the left, just off the ground, to a position into which ex-North End loanee Tommy Miller was racing. He appeared to handle the ball under control as it bobbled into his possession, but there was nothing doing according to the officials, and the midfielder reacted quickest to the loose ball, side-footing home from between the penalty spot and the edge of the area.

Again the Suffolk side found the decision in their favour as Quinn appeared to use his arm to block a cross from the perennially busy Whaley inside the area just two minutes after parity was restored, and it nearly proved to Preston's cost within the following counter attack as Miller drove a shot beyond the attemped diving block of Davidson, but also, thankfully, Lonergan's far post too.

That incident brought about the end of Sean St. Ledger's afternoon, the ever present replaced by Eddie Nolan after going down in back play and deemed unfit to continue. It was only the second time this season that the Irish-qualified centre half had been substituted, and presented Nolan with his first chance to play at the heart of the Lilywhites' defence.

Rather than unsettling North End's defence, the change immediately brough chaos to the Tractor Boys' back-line, with keeper Richard Wright making a 'beastly' error with four minutes of the half to play. He mis-read another McKenna through ball which came down at head height just outside the area, and having raced to the edge of his box and been left unable to do a great deal about it, he was left woefully exposed by Parkin's quick thinking - the big man winning the headed battle and rolling the ball into an unguarded net.

That clearly rattled the previously assured visitors, and achieved an equally admirable raising in the determination level from the white-shirted stars. Chaplow and Elliott were key to a hussling that dispossessed Miller, 25 yards from goal, and Parkin's left-footed snapshot from just outside the area demanded a smart stop from Wright, given an early opportunity to atone for his error.

Ipswich, though, had their moments in the closing seconds of the half. Lonergan was kept on his toes by a couple of early drives from outside the box, and he also had to watch the ball past his post after Quinn's hard struck effort took a considerable deflection off Chaplow on its route to goal.

That was the final incident of an incident packed first half, and the momentum continued after the re-start despite the 15 minute hiatus.

Both sides had the ball inside their opponents' box within the opening 90 seconds of the half, and Ipswich came within a fraction of being level in just the third minute of the half - Lonergan reacting quickly to turn the ball round the post from half time sub Pim Balkestein - on for Moritz Volz, whose recall to the team lasted just 47 minutes including first half stoppage time.

The intensity increased when Jon Parkin was controversially booked for contesting an aerial ball with McAuley - enough to ensure his absence from the trip to Crystal Palace due to suspension - with Elliott also in the dock for appearing to protest against the call and McKenna joining the pair in the book for a subsequent foul on Miller.

A change apiece followed, and it proved to play into Preston's hands as they took the lead just a minute after the hour mark. Neither of the arrivals - Chris Brown or Kevin Lisbie - were directly involved, but that mattered little to the gleeful Elliott - pulling away from his marker, Quinn, to fire the ball in off the underside of the Town End bar from a Wallace corner.

This was a sure fire contender for the 'most entertaining game of the season' award at Deepdale, and as such it wouldn't have been right without further drama - perfectly executed by Tommy Miller just two minutes after North End had established their two-goal lead. He halved that by curling a 20-yard free kick over and around the wall just two minutes after Preston's strike, and then saw his side hang onto it as once again the referee said 'no penalty' when Elliott appeared to be thrown to the ground by Bruce for the second time in the game.

Lonergan saved expertly to keep his side ahead as the man in the numberless shirt, Lisbie, snuck in round the back and drove from an angle, showing little effect following an earlier clash which caused him to leave the field with his initial jersey covered in blood.

The same striker then frayed nerves further by striking the foot of the near post at the Kop end - thankfully it didn't fall to the unmarked Civelli in the centre. Preston were thankful to Lonergan once more as he and Mawene combined to block a snapshot from Quinn, and the keeper then held on when Balkestein turned the ball back into the mix and Lisbie once more looked to try and poach the game's sixth goal.

A fussy referee continued to make life hard for Preston by cautioning five players during what would be hard pushed to be described as a 'dirty' second period, but a strong effort from the reconfigured back-line kept Alan Irvine's men in the lead during periods in which they found it hard to make any genuine headway going forward.

The tense final five minutes could have been a little more relaxed had Wallace hit the back rather than the top of the net with a neat free kick after Miller had kicked out at Elliott, and Lonergan once more enhanced his reputation by blocking from Lisbie's overhead kick after David Wright's left wing cross was nudged back into his path, and then came to collect with confidence as his side had to fend off the subsequent corner.

The fourth official's board due gasps when it read that there were to be four minutes of added time, but Preston held firm to secure their eighth home win in ten, making it 26 points from a possible 30 since the last Deepdale defeat against Southampton in November.

PNE: Lonergan, Jones, St. Ledger (sub Nolan 37), Mawene, Davidson, Whaley, McKenna (capt), Chaplow, Wallace, Parkin (sub Brown 58), Elliott. Subs not used: Neal, Nicholson, Mellor.

Booked: Elliott, Parkin, McKenna, Davidson, Chaplow.

Ipswich: Richard Wright, Volz (sub Balkestein 46), McAuley (capt), Bruce, David Wright, Norris (sub Walters 66), Quinn, Miller, Civelli, Counago, Stead (sub Lisbie 57). Subs not used: Supple, Garvan.

Booked: Norris, McAuley.

Attendance: 12,709