Preston remained unchanged from the side that beat Watford only this time they made more errors. Chaplow drifted around midfield as the game tended to bypass him whilst Hawley looked lost up front despite Brown winning everything in the air.
Stoke as per usual played the set pieces well and used their height advantage. A long throw in was flicked on by new signing Cort and no one else decided to intercept leaving Lonergan stranded on his line.
Lonergan then won his second 'Donkey of the Day' award to go with the one he won at Wednesday. A simple cross came in, Lonergan had no one around in and the tall keeper dropped the ball at the feet of Cresswell one yard out who could not believe his luck. He was embarrassed to celebrate and the game was effectively over.
Preston huffed and puffed without creating much. The introduction of Mellor for Hawley sparked life into the team and moments later a Lewis Neal header was nodded in by Chris Brown for his first North End goal.
Th referee turned down three North End penalty appeals in the last twenty minutes which on another day may have gone for Preston - Stoke also had one denied in the first half when Fuller appeared to fall dramatically in the box.
Any hope of a revival and a point were extinguished. Stoke put in a simple corner and Cort who must be about 6ft 5 was somehow left unmarked to head past Lonergan. Preston have lost a lot of games this season from set pieces. Irvine needs to bring in defenders who are not going to make mistakes because at the moment Mawene and Chilvers are conceding due to errors left, right and centre.