But Lilywhites boss Billy Davies - whose team dropped out of the top six for the first time this year at the weekend - will have been concerned to see Nugent limp out of the game midway through the second half with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

Ipswich had Richard Naylor sent off after just 10 minutes, but took the lead with a powerful Jason De Vos header late in the first half.

But, with Paul McKenna having a hand in all three goals, Nugent hit two in the space of nine minutes before substitute Patrick Agyemang added a third in the 71st minute.

Preston, who had scored once in their previous five matches, leap-frog Wolves and move two points above the Molineux outfit with a game in hand, having all but ended Ipswich's own ambitions of a top-six place by opening up a nine-point gap to Joe Royle's side.

On a soaking Deepdale pitch, it was a truly awful opening few minutes, but the game sprang to life when Nugent robbed Scott Barron on halfway.

The England U21 international fed Brett Ormerod, whose run towards goal was halted by a sliding tackle from Naylor a few yards outside the area, with referee Eddie Ilderton quick to produce a red card.

Ipswich escaped a double punishment with McKenna's resulting free-kick coming back off the post and deflecting behind off Ormerod, who had another effort blocked by goalkeeper Shane Supple shortly after.

The visitors refused to lie down, however.

And midway through the first half, an unmarked De Vos failed to direct a free-kick from substitute Ian Westlake on target.

That warning was not heeded and nine minutes before the break, De Vos thumped a header past Nash from Owen Garven's free-kick, awarded for Youl Mawene's foul on Alan Lee, to give the visitors a shock lead.

Chris Sedgwick showed Preston's intent with five minutes of the second period gone, nicking the ball off Matt Richards and also beating Garvan before hitting a rising drive which brought a decent save from Supple.

And eight minutes after the interval, McKenna's clipped ball infield was laid back by Ormerod and driven inside the far post by Nugent from the edge of the area.

From then on it was one-way traffic in the direction of the Ipswich goal.

And in the 62nd minute, McKenna picked the ball up on the edge of the area and spotted Nugent, who was peeling away towards the near post and stabbed the ball past Supple to take his tally to 10 for the season.

Four minutes after that Nugent missed his chance of a hat-trick, failing to connect with a high Sedgwick cross and injuring himself in the process.

After the concern of seeing Nugent limp down the tunnel, another McKenna throughball down the left saw substitute Patrick Agyemang out-pace the visitors' defence and place the ball inside the far post to widen the gap further with 20 minutes left.

With Ipswich deflated and the relief among the Preston ranks obvious, that three-goal burst killed the game, with North End substitute Simon Whaley passing up the best chance to add a fourth during the closing stages.

Graham Chase (PA Sport)