Sean St Ledger produced a moment of magic to give Preston the three points at home to Barnsley.
St Ledger unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner with two minutes left in the game.
Richard Chaplow had earlier opened the scoring when he tapped in after good work from Neil Mellor.
Barnsley levelled when Jamal Campbell-Ryce drilled in a shot from the edge of the area but they went home empty-handed after Preston's late winner.
Preston manager Alan Irvine on Sean St Ledger's goal: "We know he is capable of bursting out with the ball. He does that many times, but we didn't expect him to go and do that.
"He made a great decision to come out. He obviously decided his best option was to have a shot and we got a break.
"It was a good result and I'm obviously delighted about it."
Barnsley manager Simon Davey:
"We have been done by a deflected goal and one after a dubious decision in the first half which I felt ought to have been a free-kick.
"We looked the better side for long periods in the game but that does not count for anything as we have lost it.
"I thought my players wore the shirt with pride and we deserved more than what we got."
Preston: Lonergan, Jones, Wayne Brown, St. Ledger, Davidson, Sedgwick (Elliott 72), McKenna, Chaplow, Wallace (Nicholson 46), Mellor, Chris Brown (Parkin 79). Subs Not Used: Neal, Mawene.
Booked: Davidson, Sedgwick.
Goals: Chaplow 21, St. Ledger 88.
Barnsley: Muller, Foster, Hassell, Guedes, Kozluk, Campbell-Ryce, Colace, Mostto (Devaney 64), Leon (Coulson 90), Odejayi, Macken. Subs Not Used: El Haimour, Van Homoet, Rigters.
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