Preston ended a run of four straight defeats as they got the better of Fulham 2-1 in a match where both sides had a man sent off in the first half. Sean Maguire scored for the hosts before Denis Odoi and Joe Rafferty were red carded. Preston made it 2-0 through Dave Nugent before Aleksandar Mitrovic pulled one back. Fulham lose further ground in the top two after this second straight loss.

Nugent was given a rare start for Preston who were boosted by the return of important defender Patrick Bauer. Fulham went with an overly attacking line-up with five attack-minded players starting including Mitrovic and Abou Kamara.

Maguire was lively early on and he put the hosts in front with a close range finish before Odoi was dismissed for elbowing Bauer. Maguire was then denied by a superb stop by Marek Rodak.

Fulham appeared to be back in it when Joe Raffety was red carded for a bad tackle on sub Joe Bryan.

But Nugent scrappily scored his first Preston goal of his second spell with a scrappy finish. Fulham at least kept going as Mitrovic netted his 16th of the season with a deflected effort but a comeback never looked on in this one.

Preston needed this win and were rewarded for changing their team around, with Bauer making the difference too. Fulham are still rather inconsistent and Scott Parker will be a frustrated man. He probably played a far too attacking line up that lacked midfield, but did not have a great deal of options in team selection.