A goal midway through the second half gave Colchester their 12th home win of the campaign and saw North End miss their chance to leap frog Birmingham City who were beaten 3-1 at home to Southend.

Following the fantastic win at Crystal Palace on Saturday Preston found tonight's opponents far harder to break down, hardly surprising when you consider they are unbeaten at Layer Road since way back in August and have drawn only one of the games since.

Paul Simpson resisted any temptation to make changes to the 16-man squad that beat Crystal Palace on Saturday, with Michael Ricketts keeping his place in the team while Danny Dichio missed out despite recovering from illness.

So Andy Lonergan started his second game of the season, while Neil Mellor was hoping for more time to impress after finally making his North End debut at the weekend.

For Liam Chilvers the game signalled a return to the ground where he spent three-and-a-half years before signing for North End in the summer and faced a tough match up against a strike force of Iwelumo and Cureton, but one man who didn't feature for the home side was Greg Halford who agreed a move to Premiership side Reading shortly before kick-off..

After spending much of the opening exchanges in their own half it was Preston who had the first chance when Michael Ricketts stung the gloves of Dean Gerken in the Colchester goal, with a well stuck effort from the edge of the box.

At the other end Kevin Watson bought a good save out of Andy Lonergan who got down low to his right to make the save before collecting at the second attempt.

David Nugent, who has six goals in his last eight games almost added to his tally on 26 minutes, hitting a low effort right across the face of goal after escaping the clutches of his marker.

Kemal Izzet went close for the home side on 33 minutes when he raced into the area but Matt Hill recovered well and got a vital deflection on the shot to send the ball wide for a corner.

The U's midfielder had another sighter on goal four minutes later but this time he shot high and wide of Lonergan's goal.

Kelvin Wilson, who has impressed at the other end in recent weeks with two goals in the last two weeks, was doing what he does best on 41 minutes when he used all of his pace to prevent Izzet getting beyond the defence and he used his strength well to win the ball and somehow toe poke the ball away.

The loose ball only went as far as Cureton whose 25-yard-effort flew just wide of the right hand post.

It was all one way traffic at the end of the first half as Cureton had another chance to shoot on goal but his effort flew wide of the post.

North End started the second half brightly and just two minutes in Nugent found himself with space in the area but his centre was easily collected by Dean Gerken.

A superb run down the right by Nugent tore open the Southend defence with Chris Barker unable to get anywhere near him but his cross was behind both Sedgwick and Ricketts in the middle and the chance lost.

An excellent save from Lonergan on 55 minutes kept the scoreline goalless after he raced off his line to throw himself at the feet of Jackson to send his effort behind, with the former Tottenham youngster through on goal.

Chris Iwelumo was the first man in the book on 58 minutes for a foul on Kelvin Wilson. It looked as blatant as anything to everyone in the press box although some fans in the row behind broke out into a chant of you don't know what you're doing to premiership referee Chris Foy.

Geraint Williams made his first change on the hour mark, Matthew Mills replaced by Garry Richards, Paul Simpson quickly followed with Simon Whaley coming on for Lewis Neal. The change saw Pugh move out to the left wing, Sedgwick push infield and Whaley take his place on the right.

The home side were ahead on 67 minutes, Garry Richards heading home a corner from Kevin Watson.

Up until that point North End had given as good as they had got and if anything looked the more likely to score in the second half.

The goal gave the home side the impetus and they continued to pile the pressure on the North End back line, despite the best efforts of the front two of Ricketts and Nugent to get the home side back in it.

Simpson went for broke with 10 minutes to go, Brett Ormerod replacing Matt Hill which signalled a third position for Danny Pugh who dropped to left back, with Ricketts going wide on the left.

Nugent was shown the yellow card on 83 minutes despite not touching Wayne Brown but just a second later all the action was back down the other end.

Andy Lonergan looked as if he'd never been away and made another excellent save, down low to his left, from Duguid before Chilvers slid in to block the second effort and put the ball.

North End tried in vain to get the equaliser throwing everything they had at the U's defence, who proved increasingly difficult to break down, although Simon Whaley screwed a shot wide in injury time, when he found himself in space.

Cureton was replaced by Jamie Guy as Colchester tried to run down the clock.

PNE LINEUP: Lonergan, Alexander, Hill (Ormerod 80), Wilson, Chilvers, Sedgwick, McKenna, Pugh, Neal (Whaley 63), Ricketts, Nugent

Subs: Nash, Ormerod, Mellor, St Ledger, Whaley

COLCHESTER LINEUP: Gerken, White, Jackson, Brown, Watson, Duguid, Cureton, Izzet, Iwelumo, Barker, Mills (Richards 60)

SUBS: Davison, Guy, Richards, McLeod, Ephraim