Play-off hopefuls Preston suffered their third successive Coca-Cola Championship defeat as Crystal Palace put another dent in the visitors' promotion chances.

Shefki Kuqi's first-half double and Leon Cort's header in the 67th minute sealed victory for Palace, who would have won even more convincingly were it not for Preston goalkeeper Andy Lonergan's courageous display.

To complete a miserable afternoon for Preston, their England striker David Nugent appeared to fling his shin-pads into the dug-out when he was substituted in the 75th minute.

Preston have now lost their last five league matches away from home, and they rarely competed at Selhurst Park.

After a turgid opening 15 minutes, Kuqi put Palace in front, taking advantage of some slack marking in the Preston defence to head Ben Watson's right-wing corner into the roof of the net from eight yards.

Four minutes later, Kuqi doubled his tally and Palace's lead, but this effort was far more spectacular.

Moving onto Clinton Morrison's first-time cross from the right, Kuqi steadied himself before guiding a brilliant volley into the top-left corner of the goal.

Palace had scored from their first two genuine opportunities, leaving Preston stunned, and the home side could have had more first-half goals as they tried to turn the screw.

Morrison curled the ball just wide of the left post following good work from Watson, and in the 31st minute Lonergan had to bail his team out by saving from Morrison after Liam Chilvers' poor back pass had gifted possession to the Republic of Ireland striker.

Lonergan rescued his team once more in the 36th minute, showing fine reflexes to tip over Mark Hudson's header from Gary Borrowdale's driven free-kick.

Preston began the second half brightly, Nugent seeing a shot blocked by Hudson, while Brett Ormerod miskicked when through on goal following Nugent's clever turn.

But Palace quickly regained the ascendancy, and began to test the struggling Preston defence once more.

Watson's free-kick was met by the head of Cort in the 56th minute, forcing another superb stop from the impressive Lonergan, while Watson was denied by Seyfo Soley's last-ditch tackle following a neat one-two with Morrison.

Kuqi wasted a great opportunity to score his first Palace hat-trick when he forced his way past Sean St Ledger in the 63rd minute but dragged his angled shot wide of the left post.

Lonergan excelled again in the 67th minute, pushing Tom Soares' fierce drive behind after Jobi McAnuff and Morrison had combined effectively.

But Lonergan could not prevent Palace going 3-0 from Watson's resulting corner as Cort took advantage of more dreadful marking to power in a close-range header.

Teams:

Crystal Palace Kiraly, Lawrence, Hudson, Cort, Borrowdale,McAnuff (Ifill 71), Watson (Grabban 83), Fletcher (Kennedy 76),Soares, Morrison, Kuqi.

Subs Not Used: Speroni, Butterfield.

Booked: Soares.

Goals: Kuqi 16, 21, Cort 68.

Preston Lonergan, Wilson, St. Ledger, Chilvers, Alexander,Sedgwick, Pugh, Soley, Whaley (Songo'o 64),Nugent (Ricketts 74), Ormerod (Agyemang 60).

Subs Not Used: Henderson, Pergl.

Booked: Alexander, Pugh.

Att: 15,985

Ref: S Tanner (Somerset).