Preston North End's first visit to London this season ended in disappointment as they came up against a QPR side on red hot form.

Alan Irvine's men suffered only their second away defeat of the campaign as goals from Adel Taarabt, Akos Buzsacky, Jay Simpson and Wayne Routledge condemned his side to a 4-0 loss.

North End, who were sporting the red away jersey for the first time this season, welcomed back Michael Hart at right back with Billy Jones swapping over to the left hand side. Veliche Shumulikoski, who had returned from international duty with Macedonia on Thursday, slotted into central midfield with Richard Chaplow.

There was a cagey opening to the game with QPR probing the Lilywhites' back four but the first chance fell to Chris Brown whose well struck volley from outside of the penalty flew over Radek Cerny's crossbar.

Preston needed to be alert soon after when Rangers rallied up the other end and Gavin Mahon threaded a teasing ball through the heart of North End's defence but Hart was alerted to the danger and snuffed out the pass.

However, things were to get even more uncomfortable for North End in the ninth minute when Taarabt cut inside from the left touchline and unleashed a curling effort from 30 yards that flew past Lonergan into the top corner.

Irvine's men had to react but nearly found themselves two goals down soon after when Hart sold his goalkeeper short with a loose back pass. Luckily for the returning Hart, Lonergan was quickly off of his line to spare the full back's blushes.

QPR were continuing to pester Preston's defence and the Lilywhites were finding it hard to keep tabs on Taarabt and Routledge on each wing. The game was very open which was suiting the home side but halfway through the first half, North End were beginning to get a feel for the game with Neil Mellor and Ross Wallace beginning to look dangerous.

Mellor was close to levelling the game in the 31st minute after Richard Chaplow broke from midfield and laid the ball off to the striker but his powerful left foot strike was hit straight at Cerny. Minutes later from a similar position, Shumulikoski found space outside of QPR's penalty area and laid the ball off to Wallace who saw his strike whistle over the crossbar.

This game was beginning to open up again and Rangers carved open Preston's defence again and Routledge saw his guided shot superbly saved by the feet of Lonergan, who looked keen to impress again wearing the armband.

Towards the end of the half, Routledge's team mate Buzsacky came even closer to extending his side's lead when his driven shot beat a standing Lonergan but just flew over the crossbar.

Despite this pressure, Irvine's men continued to find the odd counter attack and did come close to an equaliser through Mellor who had his rasping shot blocked en-route to goal.

But in the 45th minute, Jones had possibly North End's closest chance after he recieved the ball from Chris Sedgwick outside if the penalty area but Cerny got down early and saved to deny the visitors and equaliser before the break.

The second half started similarly to the first with Brown having the first effort on goal. Jones nodded down to Mellor from Shumulikoski's free kick and Mellor fed the ball to Brown who again volleyed just over the crossbar. But again QPR were going straight up the other end and trying their luck from range and Lonergan was called into action once more producing a fine one handed save to deny left back Gary Borrowdale from distance.

North End were still looking vulnerable when QPR were on the break but again, Brown was determined to steady the ship for North End. The forward was close to equalising again for Preston when he linked up with strike partner Mellor but struck his shot just wide of the post.

Nevertheless, this missed chance was to be costly for the visiting side as Rangers were awarded a penalty in the 63rd minute after Taarabt was tripped inside the box. Buzsacky stepped up and fired his side into a comfortable two goal lead.

Irvine was forced to act and brought on Paul Parry, Darren Carter and Jon Parkin to try and change the game. This was proving to be difficult against a QPR side who were now playing with their tales up.

The game was soon out of reach for North End in the 74th minute when Youl Mawene let the ball to roll across his body allowing striker Jay Simpson to nip in and side foot the ball into the bottom corner.

The Lilywhites afternoon got worse in the 85th minute when Routledge found space in the centre of the park, ran at the Preston defense and drove the ball into the bottom corner.

North End will hope to bounce back from this defeat when they travel to Hillsborough on Tuesday night to take on Bryan Laws' Sheffield Wednesday.