The Scot built on Chris Sedgwick's first-half - and first goal as a North End player - strike with his own effort on 58 minutes.

But the midfield general, who will be sorely missed when he serves his ban, saw red on 77 minutes when he hacked down constant Crewe threat Dean Ashton when the England U21 international was clear on goal.

Ashton's free-kick from that incident, on the edge of the North End area, led to the corner which set up Crewe's consolation goal.

Richard Walker headed home Kenny Lunt's corner kick to create a nervous last few minutes for a sizeable away support.

As on Saturday against Sunderland, North End did enough to keep their opponents at bay, and this victory is all the more priceless for the fact it is only the second away win of the season.

Preston looked comfortable from the off, and took the lead after just nine minutes when relatively new boys Patrick Agyemang and Sedgwick linked up well.

Agyemang lifted the ball into the box, placing Sedgwick perfectly to shoot the ball home past keeper Clayton Ince.

David Vaughan tried to hit back for confident Crewe, beating three

defenders before seeing his shot clip the post, while Dean Asthon was constantly bearing down on Andrew Lonergan's goal.

Richard Cresswell fired at Ince in the second half, before Sedgwick came within centimetres of doubling his North End goal tally - his effort going just over the bar.

Eddie Lewis' lethal free kick technique set up O'Neil on 58 minutes, when he found O'Neil's head inside a crowded penalty area. He headed home from point blank range.

The result means that Preston have taken 13 points from a possible 15 in their last five games, a run which has lifted them up to ninth in the league and within three points of the playoff zone.