A fairly tedious first half dulled the crowd and only flashes of excitement brought them to life.
David Marshall made a fine save from Parkin and Preston had a goal disallowed but the referee had blown long before the ball hit the net. That aside the main chances fel to City.
A Chopra shot just wide, a Whittingham cross/shot whizzed close to the far post, a Whittingham free kick was saved well by Lonergan and following a quick release by Marshall City ran from one end of the pitch to the other only for Bothroyd to fire hopelessly wide.
City still relied a lot on the ball for Bothroyd to win and hold up and he did well again. Sometimes he may have gone down a little easy but there was a rash of silly free kicks being given away and the referee certainly got good use of his whistle today.
The second half saw a three man substitution by Preston. For City Anthony Gerrard went off with a nasty cut, Joe Ledley broke down with what appears to be a groin injury and Michael Chopra came off reported suffering from a stomach upset.
On came Kennedy, Rae and McCormack which meant that Riccy Scimeca and Kevin McNaughton, two of City's previously long term injured, had to play the full 90 mins.
The goal that won the game was a cracker. Chris Burke fired a shot from 20 yards into the top right hand corner giving the keeper no chance.
City could have had more, Bothroyd charged down a clearance and broke towards gol but the keeper saved from an angle and Burke played some delicious balls into the box from the right, the slightest of touches could have resulted in a goal.
Preston did create a couple of oportunities with a goal-line clearance from McNaughton scuppering the best of them.
City saw out the 5 mins of injury time mostly in the Preston half and the final whisle was a relief to hear.
City are now 5th in the table. 12 points behind leaders Newcastle and 8 behind 2nd place W.B.A. City's next game is at The Hawthorns on Tuesday against Albion.
The Bluebirds will be without Jay Bothroyd who picked up a 5th yellow card today and he misses one game.