It has become a pattern of this season that North End appear to drop points at home but manage to be unphased away from home which has kept them in touching distance of the automatic places.
If Preston's home form matched that of their travels then North End would be a certainty for the top two but as things stand it seems that Preston might fall short and end up int he play offs.
Preston opened the scoring against Colchester with a Clarke header early in the first half. Colchester were awarded a penalty but Ibehre's spot kick was saved by Rudd.
The home side were allowed back in the game early in the second half when Ibehre made up for his earlier mistake to level the scores. A Humphrey's cross was then converted into the home net by a defender to give Preston all three points.
North End now face Rotherham at home on Tuesday evening who sit one place below them in the league. Preston can make up ground on the top two and need to put together a winning run if they are to stand a chance of automatic promotion.