Preston North End slipped to a 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace in an entertaining game away at Selhurst Park.

Keith Treacy gave Preston an early lead when he finished a swift counter attack in the seventh minute to silence the home faithful. Palace grabbed the equaliser in the 41st minute through Neil Danns, before Darren Ambrose and Calvin Andrew sealed the victory in the second half despite a good showing from North End.

Some strong penalty shouts for the Lilywhites could have changed the result, with Jon Parkin twice having strong appeals turned down, but things just didn't go the Lilywhite's way in a game Darren Ferguson's men didn't deserve to lose 3-1.

Treacy's man-of-the-match performance and first goal for PNE were the highlights for the travelling team, as Darren Ferguson's men came away from the capital empty handed.

Preston made five changes to the side that drew with Watford on Saturday 1-1. With Ross Wallace serving a suspension for ten bookable offences, Keith Treacy came in for a start on the right whilst Darren Carter, Elliott Ward, Tom Williams, and Neil Mellor all started.

Paul Hart included 18 goal midfielder Darren Ambrose in a Palace side that were desparate to drag themselves out of the relegation zone following their ten point deduction for falling into administration in January.

The Eagles looked to have got themselves ahead inside the first minute, when Stern John tried to lob Andrew Lonergan from the right, but the ball fell into the arms of the ballboy behind the goal despite everyone else inside the ground thinking the hosts had taken the lead.

The home side were throwing men forward looking to grab the early lead but Preston put them to the sword with a swift counter attack in the seventh minute only seconds after Neil Mellor had cleared off the line for the Whites. Paul Coutts robbed captain Shaun Derry of the ball and PNE found themselves in a three on one situation in the Palace half. Treacy latched onto Coutt's pass on the right, and with Julian Speroni advancing, slotted it home with his right foot to make it 1-0.

Palace were stunned by Preston's start and the home crowd, who had been vocal from the off, were silenced. In the 11th minute Parkin felt he should have had a penalty after it looked like Matt Lawrence dragged the big forward down in the area, but the ref waved away his appeals.

As the action continued, the Lilywhites had Lonergan to thank for keeping them in it, after he pulled of a string of fine saves. The first was from a Ambrose volley and then a Andrew header, which he somehow managed to tip over when it looked like a certain goal.

Ferguson's men were still looking very dangerous though, with Parkin and Treacy both going very close with powerful efforts that kept the home crowd quiet and the Palace defence on their toes.

Just as it looked like PNE were going to take a deserved lead into half-time, Palace struck back through Danns. His 41st minute strike was the result of some persistant play after he kept the ball well on the left. He sent the ball into the box, and it eventually found the head of the impressive Sean Scannell, who knocked it over the defence where Danns was able to slot it under Lonergan.

With the sides level going into the break, the game was there for the taking. The home side were first to strike though, when Ambrose capitalised on a deflected cross in the 51st minute to volley home his 19th of the season. The midfielder started the counter attack himself, and fed Danns down the left. Danns'  cross deflected off a PNE defender and Ambrosed struck his 12 yard shot against the bar, but it looked to have bounced over the line.

Preston almost responded in the 57th minute when a clever Billy Jones throw-in released Treacy down the right who cut it back to Tom Williams. But the left back couldn't control his shot not troubling Speroni between the Palace sticks

Carter then got in on the action in the 63rd minute with a darting run into the box. Parkin's fine touch from a Mellor cross played Carter in but he appeared to be dragged down by Lawrence. For the second time in the game the referee dismissed Lilywhite's penalty appeals.

Former WBA midfielder Carter soon limped off, following an hefty but fair challenge from Scannell, to be replaced by Callum Davidson who went into the left-back role pushing Williams forward into the wing position.

As the game wore on Parkin and Mellor both received bookings for fouls on opposition players late on. Everyone out there in a White shirt were giving it their all but couldn't quite make the breakthrough.

Chris Brown came on for Williams in the 82nd minute and North End played with three up front but Crystal Palace had the final say.

Andrew made it 3-1 to the hosts in the 84th minute, when Lonergan collided with Stern John whilst trying to collect an Ambrose cross. The ball looped up and gave Andrew an easy finish, more or less ending Preston's hopes of salvaging a point.

The ball just wasn't dropping for the Whites, and the three minutes of stoppage time yielded no joy as PNE came away pointless.