[themaclad]

Well, well, well two points away from the play off

Queens Park Rangers 0 Preston North End 2 Cannon 2

QPR line-up: Dieng; Dickie, Balogun, Dunne; Laird (Adomah, 67), Field, Johansen (Amos, 74), Paal (Lowe, 67); Chair, Willock; Dykes (Martin, 80). Subs not used: Archer, Dozzell, Richards.

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Potts, Whiteman, Browne (Onomah, 45+2), Johnson (Ledson, 88), Brady (Fernández, 80); Cannon, Parrott (Woodburn, 80). Subs not used: Cornell, Diaby, Slater.

Attendance: 14,620 (793 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr G Eltringham.

A Tom Cannon brace helped Preston North End beat Queens Park Rangers 2-0 at Loftus Road in what was a fantastic away performance.

Both sides had chances to break the deadlock in the first half, with Alan Browne hitting the post for North End with a great curling effort.

PNE then grew in confidence and opened the scoring on 59 minutes through Cannon, before the Everton loanee got a second just four minutes later to secure back-to-back wins.

Ryan Lowe opted to make a single change from the derby day victory over Blackpool, with Robbie Brady coming into the side in place of Álvaro Fernández.

Seny Dieng was the first of the goalkeepers to be called into action eight minutes in, clawing Andrew Hughes’ looping cross away from under his crossbar.

The QPR defenders made sure the ‘keeper wasn’t required soon after as they threw themselves in front of Troy Parrott’s goalbound effort, following good work from Daniel Johnson.

Then, on 24 minutes, there was a quite remarkable 30 seconds of football as both sides came close to opening the scoring. It was North End who had the first of the opportunities through skipper Browne, who cut inside and curled an effort agonisingly against the post.

Immediately there was then a break on for the hosts and Ilias Chair was one-on-one with Freddie Woodman, but the Moroccan international could only chip his effort wide as Woodman closed down the angle.

Later in the half, Brady whipped a great cross into the box and Jordan Storey rose highest at the far post to powerfully head goalwards, where Dieng was waiting to make an important save.

After losing Browne to injury late in the first half, PNE enjoyed a fantastic team move in the opening stages of the second – with Parrott and Brady playing a nice one-two before defender Leon Balogun got his body in front of the ball as Parrott readied a close-range strike.

Browne’s replacement Josh Onomah showed great feet to win a free-kick for North End on 57 minutes and Brady took it smartly, finding Johnson with a pass into the area and he saw a shot blocked at close range.

Brady sent an even better ball into the area on 59 minutes and Cannon superbly flicked the ball on, giving Dieng no chance as it nestled into the far corner.

Just four minutes later, the Everton loanee had his second as Parrott flicked it round the corner and Cannon found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, finishing calmly under the home No.1 to double North End’s lead.

PNE remained well in control from that point – and Cannon could even have had a hat-trick in the 72nd minute – but the game finished 2-0 as North End closed the gap on the top six.