Although Derby have not been riding high as previous seasons this was always going to be a tough fixture for Preston. North End have a dismal record at Pride Park coupled with a complete inability to generally put in a performance after an international break.
Last month Preston put in an abject performance away at a distinclty average Reading side afterthe last international break and this time around it took them forty five minutes and a couple of subsitutions to get going.
North End were down at the break thanks to a close range effort from Waghorn but really the visitors could have been down by more. It is unclear as to why Preston started so slowly.
Preston did come into the game after the break and had chances to equalise but left Pride Park empty handed once again. The defeat leaves them third in the table as Leeds moved into second. West Brom have also created a gap at the top of the table.
From now until the start of January Preston face a raft of fixtures every few days and this period will be critical in determining whether Preston will have a chance at a top six spot. North End have to bounce back quickly as they face Hull on Wednesday evening.