TOM CANNON SCORED two goals in four minutes to keep Preston North End on course for a late surge into the Championship play-off places.
The Republic of Ireland U21 international found the net in the 59th and 63rd minutes as they took all three points at Queens Park Rangers.
Cannon, who arrived on loan at Preston from Everton in January, has now scored six times in his last eight appearances while also breaking his duck at international level in a friendly against Iceland.
Preston are now just two points off sixth spot after Blackburn Rovers, who currently occupy that play-off place, were beaten 2-0 at home by Norwich City.
Both Adam Idah and Andrew Omobamidele made appearances off the bench for the Canaries.
John Egan helped Sheffield United keep another clean sheet as they edged out Wigan Athletic 1-0 at Bramall Lane courtesy of a strike from Iliman Ndiaye inside the opening 10 minutes.
The Blades are now well on their way to automatic promotion as Luton Town’s stalemate with Milwall — third and fifth respectively — earlier in the day means the Yorkshire club are eight points clear.
Results at the top end mean Burnley can secure promotion with a win over fourth-placed Middlesbrough tonight while that defeat for Wigan means they remain rooted to the foot of the table, eight points adrift of safety.
Mick McCarthy’s Blackpool are in similar peril, one point off the bottom after they were easily beaten 3-1 on their own patch by Cardiff City.
Huddersfield Town’s dramatic 3-2 win away to Watford means Reading dropped into the bottom three after managing just a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City.
Jeff Hendrick played 90 minutes for the Royals and two points from their last five games mean they find themselves in a relegation dogfight.
There is no such concern for Stoke City, although they lost 2-1 at home to Bristol City which saw their opponents leapfrog them in the table.
Meanwhile, in League One, it was a good day for former Ireland U21 international Jack Taylor, who scored his eighth goal of the season as promotion hopefuls Peterborough won 3-0 away at Shrewsbury, leaving them just inside the playoff spots in sixth.
Irish duo Killian Phillips and Jordan Shipley started for the hosts, who are 10th in the table;
Derby are just behind Peterborough in seventh — Irish duo David McGoldrick and James Collins were both on target in a 2-0 win over Forest Green, while Jason Knight, Conor Hourihane and Eiran Cashin also featured in the starting XI.
