Darel Russell's injury-time rocket handed Norwich a deserved victory over Preston at Carrow Road.

Despite the Canaries dominating the second half, the Coca-Cola Championship clash seemed destined for a draw before the former Stoke midfielder latched on to Dion Dublin's knockdown to rifle a brilliant 20-yard volley into the bottom corner.

A woeful first 45 minutes had passed without any clear-cut chances, although Karl Hawley fired narrowly over from 25 yards.

The Canaries were a completely different proposition after the interval and came close with a string of chances before Gary Doherty headed a late corner against the crossbar.

That appeared to be it before Russell struck and City are now 11 games undefeated in the league.

Glenn Roeder's side were without Darren Huckerby who was dropped from the squad altogether following midweek speculation over his future at the club.

Preston, sitting in the relegation zone prior to kick-off, were without three suspended first-teamers and drafted in Neil Mellor, Lewis Neal and Billy Jones.

The lowly visitors dominated the opening minutes and City goalkeeper David Marshall had already taken a fine catch from Neal's cross before Hawley fired the first shot of the match just over the crossbar.

Norwich threatened moments later but Ched Evans' shot was wide to the left.

The Lilywhites were forced into an early defensive change when Callum Davidson limped off to be replaced by Matt Hill.

Two minutes before half-time Evans headed straight at North End goalkeeper Andy Lonergan from the lively Lee Croft's cross, while Darren Carter responded with a long-range shot which was held by Marshall.

Roeder must have reserved a few choice words for his players at the break as Norwich came out firing in the second half.

Evans had already tried his luck from the edge of the box before a goalmouth scramble saw Jason Shackell and Dublin both narrowly fail to open the scoring.

Lonergan held on well from Russell's 20-yarder moments later.

New loan signing from Middlesbrough Matthew Bates was brought on for his debut in the 55th minute, Jon Otsemobor making way.

Ryan Bertrand had a great chance to give City the lead on the hour mark but he contrived to fire over from six yards after Mark Fotheringham's cross.

Preston hit back and Shackell did well to block McKenna's well-struck shot, and Preston boss Alan Irvine then threw on Brett Ormerod for Mellor in a bid to claim all three points.

Roeder responded by replacing Evans with Jamie Cureton.

It almost paid dividends with 15 minutes remaining but Cureton's powerful shot from 12 yards was well parried to safety by Lonergan, while Ormerod fired wide for the visitors in the 82nd minute.

James Henry came on for Croft to become the second Norwich debutant following his loan move from Reading.

And City were within a whisker of claiming the win with five minutes left when Doherty headed Fotheringham's corner against the crossbar.

Their despair finally ended in the first minute of injury-time, however, when Russell cracked his brilliant strike past Lonergan.

Teams:

Norwich Marshall, Otsemobor (Bates 55), Shackell, Doherty, Camara, Croft (Henry 81), Fotheringham, Russell, Bertrand, Dublin, Evans (Cureton 73).

Subs Not Used: Gilks, Pattison.

Goals: Russell 90.

Preston Lonergan, Jones, St. Ledger, Chilvers, Davidson (Hill 22), Whaley, Carter, McKenna, Lewis Neal (Chaplow 82), Hawley, Mellor (Ormerod 70).

Subs Not Used: Chris Neal, Trotman.

Att: 24,092

Ref: Jarnail Singh (Middlesex).