Town are down to fourth in the Championship following a topsy-turvy 3-2 defeat at Preston North End in which returning striker Kieffer Moore netted twice having come on as a half-time sub. The Blues found themselves 3-0 down at the break as two goals from former Town striker Will Keane on five and 39 sandwiched an eighth-minute George Edmundson own goal. But after Moore, re-signed on loan from AFC Bournemouth on Thursday, had been introduced at the break, Town were a different prospect after the break and the Wales international netted on 75 and 87 but the Blues were unable to find the third goal which would have claimed a point.
New striker Kieffer Moore and Ali Al-Hamadi were named on the bench as manager Kieran McKenna made two changes from the last league game, the 1-1 draw away to leaders Leicester.
Skipper Sam Morsy returned in midfield following his suspension with Lewis Travis dropping to the subs, while Jeremy Sarmiento was handed his full league debut with Marcus Harness also on the bench, alongside Moore, Al-Hamadi and Nathan Broadhead.
Preston made one change from their 1-1 draw at Millwall last time out with skipper Alan Browne returning to the starting line-up for Ryan Ledson, who was among the subs.
Former Blues striker Keane started and ex-Town keeper Dai Cornell was on the bench.
The home side created the first chance just over a minute after the game got under way, Town, wearing their orange away kit, looking to have been caught cold as Liam Millar was found on the left of the box but fortunately the Canadian international screwed his volleyed shot well wide.
But in the fifth minute, the Lilywhites were in front. Town were closed down as they sought to play out from the back and the ball fell loose to Keane in space 25 yards out after Morsy had looked to clear. The former Blues striker took it forward and struck a shot which caught Edmundson, wrong-footed Vaclav Hladky and beat the Czech keeper to his right.
Three minutes later, it was 2-0. Emil Riis was played in on goal by a defence-splitting Keane pass, took it on into the area and Edmundson inadvertently stabbed past Hladky as he looked to take it away from the Preston striker. Video evidence suggested Riis was offside when the pass was played.
Having had a nightmare start, the Blues set about getting themselves back in the game but made little progress against a determined Preston side with their tails up.
