Ipswich Town 4-2 Preston North End: Tractor Boys win again to stay second
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Conor Chaplin's goal was his fifth of the season for Ipswich
Ipswich kept up the pressure on Leicester City at the top of the Championship table as they extended their unbeaten run to seven matches with victory over Preston North End.
Prolific Conor Chaplin put them in front with a brilliant first-time strike and although Mads Frokjaer-Jensen levelled after the Tractor Boys failed to deal with a through ball, a solo effort by Brandon Williams and easy tap-in by Nathan Broadhead put them 3-1 up at the break.
Ben Whiteman cut the deficit to one with a deflected shot but Marcus Harness, Jack Taylor and Omari Hutchinson combined to tee up fellow substitute Kayden Jackson for Ipswich's fourth.
Preston pushed forward to try and rescue the situation but Town held on for their ninth win in 11 games this season and go into the international break still second in the table, two points behind Leicester.
They are now eight points clear of third-placed Preston, who suffered their third defeat in eight days.
Lincoln City were the last away team to register a clean sheet at Portman Road 12 months ago, and having conceded seven goals in their two previous matches, North End found themselves behind to the game's first meaningful effort as Chaplin swept home from Leif Davis' ball into the box.
A misplaced pass by Jack Whatmough gave Broadhead the chance to attempt an audacious 40-yard chip but the ball floated just wide and Frokjaer-Jensen equalised following some slack Ipswich defending.
Having scored at least twice in each of their past 14 home games, Ipswich restored the lead when Williams was allowed to bring the ball from his own half unchallenged before firing past Woodman.
The Lilywhites should have been level again as Patrick Bauer headed down a free-kick and Milutin Osmajic screwed his shot wide of the post, but Broadhead made it 3-1 from close range after George Hirst headed down and it could have been even worse for Preston before the break as Wes Burns twice and Chaplin tested Woodman in added time.
Preston boss Ryan Lowe shook things up at half-time, with skipper Alan Browne - back in the side following illness - among three players withdrawn, and the move soon paid off as substitute Whiteman's shot flew in via the post.
But Jackson calmed any nerves among the home supporters and after Ben Woodburn fired a shot across the face of the Ipswich goal, Freddie Ladapo almost made it five from close range at the other end, but was denied by Woodman.
Ipswich head coach Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:
"It was an exciting game, some great goals, plenty of chances created against a difficult opponent.
"The performance wasn't perfect, there's things we can improve but it was the last game of a really busy spell, the seventh in 21 days, something like that, so it's probably not going to be perfect at that stage.
"We've spoken a lot about making this an exciting place to play football - I spoke to the players about that when we were mid-table (in) League One, that I wanted this to be one of the best places in England to watch football.
"We're showing signs of that, we've had some great games here, and we're going to have to work really hard to keep that going."
Preston manager Ryan Lowe:
"Obviously (I'm) disappointed with the first half, you can't give a good team like Ipswich three goals and we have done.
"We gave ourselves a lifeline at half-time and came out a lot better and when we were really pushing, second half they do us on the counter...so overall, (it's) a tough afternoon.
"They all admit it's not good enough. It's probably been one of the toughest weeks since I've been here in terms of the goals we have conceded.
"If you want to do anything in the division you have to be better all round."
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