Preston North End were beaten 1-0 at Deepdale by Queens Park Rangers, with Jimmy Dunne’s second-half strike proving the difference.
Central defender Dunne broke the deadlock for the visitors on 58 minutes, finding the back of the net on the end of a corner.
PNE were unchanged from the 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers, while QPR arrived with a new head coach in Neil Critchley, who was taking charge of his first game.
Critchley will have been happy with his side’s bright start, with right back Ethan Laird going on a mazy run inside ten minutes, working room for a shot which was blocked by Jordan Storey, and Tim Iroegbunam hit the follow-up over the bar.
Iroegbunam then came extremely close to breaking the deadlock when his 25-yard effort curled away from the diving Freddie Woodman, who will have been relieved to see the strike come back off his left-hand post.
North End’s shot-stopper was, however, called into action later in the half by Iroegbunam and Chris Willock, while at the other end PNE’s best opportunity of the opening period fell to Ben Whiteman, whose low effort from the edge of the box was deflected wide of goal.
Eight minutes into the second half, QPR produced the biggest chance of the game to that point, with Albert Adomah picking out Willock in space at the far post, but he blazed his volley over the bar.
Álvaro Fernández had PNE’s first effort on target a few minutes later, cutting on to his right foot before seeing his low strike held by Seny Dieng.
North End were soon behind, though, with a corner from the right being flicked towards goal by Dunne and, after hitting the underside of the bar, the ball bounced over the line.
Ben Woodburn then had a glorious chance to draw level within a few minutes, after a clever flick from Evans opened up some space, but his effort was kept out by Dieng at close quarters.
Seven minutes from time, Woodman came up with a big save to tip Iroegbunam’s strike – which looked to be sneaking under the bar – over the top.
PNE came so close to taking a late point when, with two minutes of normal time remaining, Fernández found Potts at the far post, who struck beautifully on the volley, but it went just inches wide.
Johnson also tried his luck late in stoppage time, however his effort was too high and the points went to the visitors.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Cunningham (O’Neill, 85); Potts (Diaby, 90), Whiteman, Ledson (Cross-Adair, 68), Fernández; Johnson, Woodburn; Evans. Subs not used: Cornell, Bauer, Slater, Mawene.
QPR line-up: Dieng; Laird, Dunne, Clarke-Salter, Paal; Field, Dozzell (Dickie, 90+1), Iroegbunam; Adomah, Dykes, Willock (Shodipo, 78). Subs not used: Archer, Kakay, Thomas, Richards, Armstrong.
Attendance: 14,534 (504 away fans).
Referee: Mr O Langford.