Brad Potts scored the only goal of the game as Preston overcame Hull in the Sky Bet Championship.

Potts grabbed his third goal of the season on the hour to earn North End a first victory at home since beating Coventry on October 19.

He thought he had scored the winner last Saturday against Leeds, only to be denied at the death by Jack Whatmough’s own goal.

The result leaves Ruben Selles’ Hull languishing in the bottom three.

The Tigers started with authority and, in the sixth minute, Regan Slater shanked a glorious chance well over the crossbar after goalkeeper Freddie Woodman parried Joao Pedro’s fierce effort back into the danger zone.

Preston soon woke up and retaliated shortly afterwards as Milutin Osmajic slammed Mads Frokjaer’s low cross wide from a difficult angle.

But North End’s Montenegrin attacker should have done much better in the 21st minute, firing tamely into the arms of Woodman from six yards following great work from Kaine Kesler-Hayden.

Kesler-Hayden provided another great pass on the stroke of half-time, bending a ball to the back post for Ben Whiteman, who powered a volley just wide.

Preston continued the second half on the front foot and Osmajic again fired wide from a decent position after latching onto Potts’ ball in behind.

Sam Greenwood has so often been the source of attacking inspiration for manager Paul Heckingbottom this season but the on-loan Leeds man dragged a 55th-minute effort wide from inside the box after Hull struggled to clear their lines.

It was no surprise when the hosts did take the lead and no surprise to see Kesler-Hayden involved. He stormed into the box before pulling the ball back for Potts to power a shot past Ivor Pandur.

Hull had lost a lot of impetus after a decent start but did come close when Mason Burstow’s 69th-minute cross-cum-shot skidded just past a post via the fingertips of Woodman.

Despite their struggles to win at Deepdale, Preston had only lost once in their last seven matches and do possess a competitive edge in Championship matches. They sat deep and were compact against a team struggling for form.

Burstow did fire a tame shot into the hands of Woodman in stoppage time and the Preston keeper did well to hold Matty Jacobs’ downward header shortly afterwards but it was light work at the end of a relatively easy day for the stopper.