Any slim hopes of a top six finish were dashed at Elland Road with Simon Grayson lamenting defensive mistakes which gave the home side a somewhat flattering scoreline.
Preston will fall short of the top six and most likely finish in a similar position to last season perhaps sligtly higher. There are several areas for improvement. The slow start to the season for the second year in a row, the lack of a clinical striker and poor away form all combined are the main reasons for Preston finishing outside the play off positions.
Whilst the start of the season is long gone yesterday contained poor finishing and disappointing away form against a decent Leeds side who will now head for the play offs.
Hugill was ruled out with injury so Barkhuizen started up front with Robinson. This actually changed Preston's style slightly as they played out from the back more with no big target man to aim for.
Over the past few matches Preston have started strongly but faded. The same happened here. Goals change games and Barkhuizen who has been on fire recently missed two glorious chances in the first fifteen minutes.
The young forward had a header where he should have done better before being put through on goal moments later. Barkhuizen curled his shot past Green and the post. Preston then faded out of the game.
The first goal may have been rather fortunate as Roofe's shot was deflected leaving Maxwell helpless. The build up was preventable with Wood who was borderline offside flicked the ball trhough but he should have been stopped.
The officials were intimidated by a vociferous home crowd and confusion was caused when the home side netted again only for the linesman to rule the goal as offside after several moments of hesitation.
Leeds added a second before the break when Hernandez was allowed in to score. The game was effectively over at that point with Preston facing an uphill task.
Changes were made in the second half. Beckford came on but appears so out of touch and Makienok appears to be playing out his loan spell. There was a chance where Preston should have scored but contrived to hit the bar.
Baptiste was then sent off for an apparent stamp on Hernandez, The linesman flagged with the referee giving a straight red card meaning Preston played out the game with ten men.
Doukara added a third late on as he ran through to slot past Maxwell. The game could have been different with the home side not really made to work for their victory but if Preston have any future aspirations to climb up the table then they will have to improve away from home against the top six sides.