Preston North End were beaten 1-0 by Queens Park Rangers in the penultimate away match of the campaign.
Lyndon Dykes scored the one and only goal of the televised fixture in the 20th minute as he capitalised on a defensive error.
Liam Millar, returning from injury, had PNE’s best chance of the day in the first half, but the hosts kept a clean sheet to help their bid to stay in the division.
The Canadian wideman was one of five changes made from the midweek defeat to Southampton, with Ben Woodburn one of those to come in for his first start of the season.
North End had the first half-chance of the game when Alan Browne won it high up and his cutback eventually fell for Robbie Brady, who had a shot blocked from the edge of the area.
Andrew Hughes had to come up with a vital defensive header in the eighth minute to stop Dykes from heading in from six yards, and there was then a let off when Lucas Andersen sent the rebound wide.
Five minutes on, Millar and Woodburn played a brilliant one-two which opened up a huge chance for the Canadian from eight yards, but Asmir Begović somehow kept it out.
At the other end, Chris Willock’s cross from the left wasn’t collected in the air by Freddie Woodman and Dykes was in the right spot to finish off at the back post to give his side the lead.
After Woodman then came up with a great stop to deny Willock, Ilias Chair sent Dykes through on goal six minutes before the break, but the Scotland international sent his low strike wide from 20 yards.
North End came out brighter in the second half, with Millar seeing plenty of the ball and trying to make things happen after switching to the left.
There was still defending to do, though, and PNE were relieved to see Steve Cook scuff an effort wide after a scramble in the box.
Millar continued to bring energy for Ryan Lowe’s side and his audacious outside-of-the-boot effort tested Begović in the 76th minute.
Layton Stewart, Mads Frøkjær and Milutin Osmajić all came on in attacking changes, and the latter two so nearly combined late on, but Jimmy Dunne made a vital interception to take it off the toe of the Montenegrin.
PNE saw all of the ball in the late stages as they looked to find a leveller, but it never arrived and the hosts took the victory.
QPR line-up: Begović; Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Paal (Fox, 85); Andersen (Smyth, 68), Field, Colback; Willock, Dykes (Armstrong, 90+1), Chair (Hayden, 90+1). Subs not used: Walsh, Hodge Dixon-Bonner, Cannon, Larkeche.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Millar, Browne, Ledson, Brady (Holmes, 79); Woodburn (Frøkjær, 67); Riis (Stewart, 67), Keane (Osmajić, 79). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Evans, Whatmough, N.Mawene.
Attendance: 16,464 (730 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr G Ward.
