Last updated on .From the section Championship

Alan Browne continued his good home form with a first-half goal in the win against Millwall

Millwall's dreadful away form continued as they dropped into the relegation zone with a defeat against Preston North End at Deepdale.

Preston's Alan Browne opened the scoring in the 37th minute when he latched onto Lukas Nmecha's pass to finish.

The home side doubled their lead five minutes later when Tom Barkhuizen was found by Paul Gallagher, and the forward slotted past the advancing Jordan Archer.

Millwall, who are yet to win on their travels this season, started the second half brightly with Jed Wallace and Steve Morison both going close before Jake Cooper made the breakthrough just after the hour mark.

The defender, who signed a new contract this week, headed in from a Shane Ferguson corner to reduce the arrears.

Preston responded well and almost extended their lead again when Browne's header was cleared off the line.

But they made sure of the points in the 82nd minute when Andrew Hughes curled a free-kick into the bottom corner.

Lions striker Lee Gregory made it 3-2 in the third minute of stoppage time, but Neil Harris' side ran out of time to get anything out of the game.

The result means Millwall have picked up just three points from 11 away matches this campaign.

Preston boss Alex Neil:

"I thought that it was a bit of a mixed performance on the whole. In the first half we controlled the ball well, but we did not look to penetrate them enough, and I thought the balance wasn't quite right at times.

"But two great passes from Paul Gallagher opened the game up in the first half. The first one, which goes through Lukas Nmecha, gets the goal and his pass for the second goal was a cracker.

"It wasn't great, but at the end of the day we have got three points, another win under our belts and we are now closer to the play-offs than the drop zone."

Millwall manager Neil Harris:

"It was groundhog day for us, we've conceded five or six chances and conceded three goals. At the other end we've created about 10 clear cut chances and scored two and ultimately we've come away with nothing from the game.

"In the 30 or so minutes before they score the opening goal, I cannot remember Preston being in our penalty area, but the two times the ball goes into our penalty area in the first half we concede.

"We simply cannot give opportunities like that away and expect to get away with it, because at this level it gives you a mountain to climb. If you wanted 90 minutes to sum up our season in a nutshell, that was it."