It just goes to show that Preston's best chances fell to the two centre backs, St Ledger and Mawene in the dying moments of injury time.
Preston have been poor away from home for some time with only odd highlights over the past 18 months ont he road. A surprising away day victory on the opening dya of the season at Ipswich was seen as a turning point for the new season but Pretson have been less than impressive since then.
A Rory Fallon header on 18 minutes was enough to defeat Preston who now travel to Sheff Utd which will be an equally difficult venue for North End to go to who have not won at Bramall Lane in living memory.
Irvine is left scratching his head to try and find a partnership that will consistently get goals. Mellor, Brown, Parkin, Elliott and Hawley have all failed to make any significant impact with only Mellor scoring four goals - two against Chesterfield. The problem is clear but the solution seems less so.