Preston's hopes of making it into the First Division play-offs for the second successive season were left in tatters after they slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

Kelham O'Hanlon's side will go into the last day of the season needing a small miracle after second-half goals from David Hopkin and Ade Akinbiyi left them three points off sixth place in the table.

The visitors, who had found the net in each of their last 10 fixtures, made a good start and nearly took the lead inside three minutes.

Richard Cresswell swung in an excellent cross but Clyde Wijnhard's close-range header flashed agonisingly wide.

Palace meanwhile had failed to score in five of their previous seven games and did little in the early stages to suggest they would threaten Tepi Moilanen's goal.

However there was some encouragement for the home fans when Akinbiyi came close to scoring only his second goal for the Eagles since his £2.4million move from Leicester, but his 12th-minute shot was blocked by Sean Gregan.

Palace keeper Alex Kolinko was still the busier goalkeeper though and he had to make two saves in the space of a minute to keep out Gareth Ainsworth's header and Paul McKenna's shot from distance.

Another scare followed for the hosts in the 16th minute when Ainsworth's cross found Cresswell, but his header cleared the crossbar.

Preston continued to enjoy the best of the play and after Michael Keane had fired wide of both posts, Ainsworth brought another save from a very busy Kolinko in the 24th minute.

Cresswell missed a golden chance to give Preston an interval lead but scuffed his close-range shot in the last minute of the half and allowed Kolinko to make another save.

And the visitors were made to pay for their first-half misses with Hopkin firing past Moilanen to break the deadlock 10 minutes into the second half.

Ainsworth attempted to get Preston back on level terms three minutes later but again was unable to beat Kolinko with his shot from 25 yards.

Palace looked to have doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when Clinton Morrison converted Akinbiyi's cross, but the Republic of Ireland international was adjudged to have been in an offside position.

However Preston were only given a temporary reprieve as Morrison turned provider for Akinbiyi, who made no mistake from six yards to open up a 2-0 lead.

The visitors had a number of chances to get back into the game but were unable to find a way past Kolinko.

Teams:

Crystal Palace Kolinko, Fleming, Popovic, Austin, Granville, Mullins, Frampton (Hopkin 45), Riihilahti, Gray (Rubins 25), Akinbiyi, Morrison, Rubins (Routledge 87).

Subs Not Used: Black, Carasso.

Booked: Popovic, Akinbiyi.

Goals: Hopkin 55, Akinbiyi 64.

Preston Moilanen, Alexander, Gregan, Jackson, Edwards, Ainsworth (Healy 66), McKenna, Etuhu, Keane (Anderson 76), Wijnhard, Cresswell.

Subs Not Used: Lucas, Rankine, Eaton.

Booked: Alexander.

Att: 21,361

Ref: C Wilkes (Gloucester).