PRESTON boss Craig Brown was left fuming as Ispwich appeared to swap football for basketball as they went in pursuit of victory at Portman Road.

A fortunate deflection for Tommy Miller broke the deadlock after 71 minutes, but the ball only made it to Miller from Jim Magilton's corner after George Santos appeared to handle the ball.

While ruing that goal, Brown surprised fans by saying Ipswich's second - on 90 minutes - was merely 'incidental' because he'd sent centre-half Chris Lucketti up front to try and salvage a point.

It might have been 'incidental' but it ruled out any chance Preston had of getting back on level terms, as Ian Westerlake made it safe for the homeside in the dying minutes of the game.

Without a clean sheet in 10 games, Preston should have found a way through Ipswich earlier in the game. They almost did, on 60 minutes, when Richard Cresswell - without a goal in 22 league games - looked to have broken his duck with a diving header.

As he wheeled away to celebrate, the reaction of his team-mates indicated that, in fact, Kelvin Davis had pulled off a stunning save to keep Cresswell out.

Now, what appeared to a blip appears to be turning into a crisis. From being just inside the play-off zone at the start of the month, Preston end it 13th - and eight points adrift.

A win on Tuesday against Reading is essential if Preston's play-off dream is to get back on track.

IPSWICH 2

PNE 0