Davey said of his goal scorer: "Jamal played for 90 minutes in Jamaica on Wednesday. He is one of the fittest lads I have ever worked with.

"He has gone through a time zone and a nine-hour flight and did not arrive until 11.30 yesterday, missing training.

"However he's like a clockwork toy – he doesn't stop running. He is improving week on week.

"We are now seeing the best of him."

The Barnsley manager said of the build-up to Preston's opening goal that Dennis Souza thought he had been fouled, although referee Andy Hall waved play on.

He said: "I have to be careful what I say. The referee looked at me and said 'I might have made a mistake,' in so many words. It sticks in your throat.

"I think we deserved a lot more than what we got. We have been done by a deflected goal and possibly a dubious goal in the first half, which I think was a free-kick.

"The players wore the shirt with pride. I am disappointed for them. But we are on the way up.

"You can see the way we played that we are improving week on week.

"There's a long way to go in this season but if we continue to play like that we will win more than we lose.

"I didn't see the second Preston goal coming. You don't expect a centre-back to come and get a deflected goal near the end."

Alan Irvine praised "gambler" defender Sean St Ledger for his late speculative strike which lifted Preston up to 10th.

Days after collecting the North West player of the year award in the Championship, St Ledger pounced two minutes from normal time with a thunderous shot to seal a 2-1 win.

The effort took a deflection off Robert Kozluk on the way in, but that did not matter as it was just the luck Irvine needed after celebrating his first year in charge at Deepdale.

The Scotsman said of his defender: "We know he is capable of bursting out with the ball. He does that many times, but we didn't expect him to go and do that today.

"He made a great decision to come out. He obviously decided his best option was to have a shot and we got a break, there's no question about it.

"It was a good result and I'm obviously delighted about it, but we have played better and lost.

"Barnsley came to try and make things difficult for us, to be very solid and to make sure we could not open them up."

Preston took a 21st-minute lead when Neil Mellor outmuscled Souza and hooked a cross for Richard Chaplow to slot in.

Irvine said of the matter: "The decision is normally given against a forward, rather than a defender where a defender is trying to shepherd the ball out and is challenged. Neil was persistent and managed to win the ball and show great composure once he had got in the box to pick Richard out.

"It is amazing what can happen in this league. The result just shows how you can have a disappointing little run and then suddenly go flying up the league.

"It's such a tight league and it is going to be like that all the way through."

Barnsley were looking for a third successive away win and looked hard done by.

Campbell-Ryce had cancelled out Preston's lead with a 25-yard strike just after the half hour.

The same player was then denied a second goal when goalkeeper Andy Lonergan turned the ball on to the post.

Preston North End: Lonergan, Jones, Wayne Brown, St. Ledger, Davidson, Sedgwick (Elliott 72), McKenna, Chaplow, Wallace (Nicholson 46), Mellor, Chris Brown (Parkin 79). Unused substitutes: Neal, Mawene.

Barnsley: Muller, Foster, Hassell, Souza, Kozluk, Campbell-Ryce, Colace, Mostto (Devaney 64), Leon (Coulson 90), Odejayi, Macken. Unused substitutes: El Haimour, Van Homoet, Rigters.

Referee: A Hall (W Midlands).

Man of the match: Jamal Campbell-Ryce.