Oxford striker Will Lankshear celebrates his ninth goal of the seasonGetty Images

Will Lankshear scored his ninth goal of the season for Oxford United

Chris Harby
BBC Sport England

Oxford United beat faltering Preston North End at Deepdale to climb out of the Championship relegation places and drag West Bromwich Albion into the bottom three.

Michal Helik gave the U's a fifth-minute lead, but Milutin Osmajic soon levelled in a frantic opening, with both goals aided by some poor defending.

The visitors spurned good chances to add a second but did restore their lead after the break through Will Lankshear's deft finish before Ciaron Brown hooked in a third.

It earned Oxford back-to-back wins for the first time this season and lifts them out of the relegation places on goal difference from the Baggies, while Preston drop to 12th - eight points adrift of the top six - after a sixth defeat in 10.

Out-of-sorts West Brom and second-bottom Leicester will move back above Oxford on Saturday if they avoid defeat. The Foxes head to promotion-chasing Ipswich, while Albion visit Sheffield United (15:00 GMT).

Knowing a win would move them out of the bottom three for the first time this year, Oxford started brilliantly as Helik chested down Cameron Brannagan's long free-kick from halfway and shinned a finish past goalkeeper David Cornell.

Brown headed over when unmarked, and a moment later, Osmajic found a yard of space to meet Ben Whiteman's fine cross and head in from close range.

More shaky defending drew boos from the home fans as Jamie Donley was given space to cushion a shot just past the post before Stan Mills was allowed to run from deep in his own half into the Preston penalty area but blazed over.

Lankshear did well to block Whiteman's goalbound volley, but the Tottenham loanee striker was found wanting at the other end when played in on goal as a poor first touch allowed Cornell to smother.

The U's had mustered just nine second-half goals in the Championship this season and may have feared their chance of a fourth away win of the campaign had gone.

But Lankshear made amends for his earlier miss as he stuck out a toe to divert Mills' low shot just inside the right-hand post with Preston's back line again caught ball watching.

And the hosts' soft centre was exposed again as Myles Peart-Harris' long throw was flicked on for Brown who outmuscled Lewis Gibson to steer in a close-range finish and equal Oxford's biggest win of the season.

The Lilywhites pressed in a desperate bid to salvage something, but Jordan Thompson's snapshot, beat clear by U's keeper Jamie Cumming, was the best they could muster as they limped to a fourth home defeat in their past six matches.

'It hurts so much' - Preston reaction

Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It hurts so much, I'm so disappointed.

"If we're going to concede three goals in the manner we did, we're not going to have a chance in games.

"We were a soft touch defending our box and that's happened three times since the new year.

"We've not performed and we've not won."

Heckingbottom: 'It hurts so much'

'Best performance' - Oxford reaction

Oxford United boss Matt Bloomfield told BBC Radio Oxford:

"It's the best performance in my time here. Both in and out of possession there was lots to like, but I'm not going to get carried away about it, it's just one game.

"We've put two wins back-to-back for the first time in quite a while which we're really pleased about.

"A lot of the players were at a really good level which allowed us to have a team performance and we created multiple opportunities.

"I was actually disappointed at half-time that we left a couple of goals out there, but the second half the way they played the game in front of them, I thought the lads were excellent."

Wasn't At The Game (06/03/2026)

Player of the match

W. Lankshear
8.21
28 M. Osmajić
4.54
17 L. Dobbin
4.16
21 A. Devine
4.02
4 B. Whiteman
3.88
13 D. Cornell
3.64
10 C. Lang
3.62
9 D. Jebbison
3.58
16 A. Hughes
3.55
42 O. Offiah
3.50
3 A. Vukčević
3.47
14 J. Storey
3.46
15 J. Thompson
3.44
26 T. Small
3.23
19 L. Gibson
2.95
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After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

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