Daniel Jebbison scored his fifth goal of the season to fire up Preston North End's bid for a Championship play-off place with a win at Oxford United.

The on-loan Bournemouth striker, who scored an equaliser against leaders Coventry City in midweek, doubled the Lilywhites advantage against a U's side who have won just once in their last nine and remain in relegation trouble.

Defender Jordan Storey had headed Preston into a first-half lead and Jebbison's goal seemed to set the visitors well on their way to a first victory against a team headed by "bogey manager" Gary Rowett in 16 attempts.

That was cast into doubt as Brian De Keersmaecker hammered in a goal for Oxford, but a combination of Lilywhites goalkeeper Daniel Iversen and some resolute defending meant Paul Heckingbottom's team held on for an important three points.

Oxford fans might have hoped their good recent record against Preston, with six wins in their last 10 meetings, might help them out of a rut that has left them precariously sitting just above the bottom three.

The fact that Rowett had not previously tasted defeat as a manager against Preston, with eight wins and seven draws from 15 prior to this game, spread over spells with Birmingham, Derby, Stoke, Millwall, Oxford only fuelled that hope.

Preston, who had manager Paul Heckingbottom watching from the TV gantry as he begins a three-match touchline ban, are tough to beat on the road, winning four of their last eight away from Deepdale.

They went ahead after 26 minutes at the Kassam Stadium. Storey stayed in the box after advancing for a corner which had been partially cleared, and when Thierry Small swung a cross deep to the far post the big defender managed to squeeze his header through the legs of Jamie Cumming to break the deadlock.

Oxford responded well but vital blocks from Storey and Harrison Armstrong, twice, kept them at bay and when they did look like scoring the brilliant Iversen produced a terrific reflex save to keep out Ciaron Brown's header.

At the start of the second half, substitute Stan Mills crossed for Nik Prelec but the Slovenia striker could not turn it home, and when play switched to the other end Preston doubled their lead from a very similar chance.

They worked an opening nicely as Alfie Devine played a one-two with Lewis Dobbin and then pulled the ball back for Jebbison to sweep into the net.

Oxford's reply was again intense and within four minutes they capitalised on some hesitant defending by Andrew Hughes, with De Keersmaecker confidently finishing from the edge of the box.

Preston needed to defend well to keep their lead, and Iversen produced another fine save from a Will Vaulks volley before Will Lankshear headed against the crossbar.

Oxford manager Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford:

"I probably chose the wrong formation for a home game. I felt as if I wanted to keep a little bit of continuity. Looking at the first half I definitely got that wrong so I will take responsibility for that.

"They've had two shots on target and scored two goals. You don't have to be a genius to look at those goals and say, 'were they completely avoidable?'

"We keep shooting ourselves in the foot. In the second half I asked the players to play with a little more freedom, like we tend to do when a couple of goals down, and we were better.

"We did create opportunities - we've had 20 shots on goal, eight on target. If we score and get an equaliser we go on to win the game, but we can't wait until we are two goals down to start playing."

Preston assistant Stuart McCall told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"The result was better than the performance. It was a great win, patchy performance.

"All the big teams who have come here have found it difficult. Stoke won here but other than that, they beat Ipswich and Boro, and Leicester drew, so it's a difficult place to come.

"You know what you'll be up against - balls in your box, set-pieces, long throws from 40 yards from your goal - so you have to stand up and be counted.

"The second goal was really nice, and that's the football we can play.

"Today, out of any game, we probably needed [the suspended] Liam Lindsay more than any game, with all the balls coming into the box.

"So with the centre-halves, and Dan [Iversen] coming and collecting it I thought we did quite well defensively."