Championship promotion chasers Millwall closed the gap to second-placed Middlesbrough to one point with victory at stumbling Preston North End.

Ryan Leonard's low curling strike in the first half put the Lions in front, Josh Coburn having already struck the post for the visitors at Deepdale.

Camiel Neghli could have stretched the lead but fired wide and was then denied by Preston goalkeeper David Cornell before the break.

Femi Azeez, who had just seen an effort saved by Cornell, set up Millwall's second in stoppage time when he burst down the right and his cross was finished by Luke Cundle.

The hosts, who are the lowest scorers in the top half of the table, lacked a cutting edge in front of goal once again.

Callum Lang had their best chance in the second half, but his effort was saved by Anthony Patterson.

Boro could extend their lead over the third-placed Lions back to four points when they play their game in hand on Monday, although the Teessiders face a tough test at Birmingham City.

If Millwall are to have genuine ambitions of playing in the top flight for the first time since 1990, the next few weeks are likely to be pivotal.

Alex Neil's side travel to promotion rivals Hull City next Saturday and then visit Ipswich and Middlesbrough in consecutive games at the end of March and start of April.

However, their form away from The Den has been particularly impressive of late, with the victory in Lancashire their third in a row on the road.

Preston's own ambitions of making the play-offs appear to be fading and they have now only won one of their past six fixtures.

The Lilywhites have fallen to 12th, eight points outside the top six, although most of their remaining matches are against sides in the bottom half of the table.

Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"The better team won in terms of chances created so I've got no complaints about the result.

"I've got no complaints with how we applied ourselves as well - we competed, went to the wire and fought really hard.

"The game had no surprises, they're a very difficult team to play against. Arguably, they do the basics better than anyone else in this league.

"Their experienced players know what their strengths are and they play to those strengths."

Millwall boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio London:

"It certainly wasn't one for the football purists, the conditions and the pitch make it difficult to play, but in real contrast to the Birmingham game it was a very different challenge.

"I thought we stood up to it brilliantly. I thought we deserved the first goal, we should have scored before that, and we had two or three chances after that in the first half as well.

"In the second half it was always going to be a case of who got the next goal. To be fair to Preston, they threw everything at us but I thought we defended brilliantly."