Irvines men went one down in the first couple of minutes to a Kevin Lisbie header who was left unmarked in the box. Ipswich had only lost one home league game during the whole of last season but this didn't daunt Preston who came back into the game.
Skipper, Mckenna fired home from 25 yards to put the scores level after a pass from Chris Sedgewick. Simon Whaley who was playing as a second striker in place of the injured Brown gave Preston their second before the half hour mark. A ball across from Bill Jones was slid in by Whaley.
Preston gave a debut to Nicholson and managed to hold on for victory with Doncaster and Bristol City being the only other sides to pick up all three points away from home.