Blackpool made a great start with David Vaughan's left-footed corner finding Rob Edwards whose shot was saved by keeper Andy Lonergan before Stephen Crainey's teasing cross was cut out.
Vaughan then had another corner which Ben Burgess met and his effort was punched clear at the near post.
Preston captain Paul McKenna was fouled by Adam just outside the box and Ross Wallace's free-kick struck the angle of post and bar.
Burgess had a shot and Stephen Elliott forced a one-handed save at the far post after half-an-hour.
Wallace was dispossessed on the halfway line by the impressive Adam and he raced away with the ball.
As the Preston defence backed off, he hit a hard low shot from just outside the area which went in off the right-hand post.
That proved to be the turning point as Preston tried in vain to get back into the game. Jon Parkin had a shot saved and Youl Mawene had a flick-on saved.
Burgess brought a save out of Paul Rachubka from another Vaughan corner before the Seasiders shot-stopper dropped Wallace's inswinging corner only for Crainey to clear.
An inswinging corner by Vaughan led to a shot by Keith Southern which was saved at the near post despite taking a deflection off Lee Williamson.
Preston thought they had equalised with just three minutes to go when Sean St Ledger headed into the roof of the net from a corner but the referee ruled that there had been a foul on Shaun Barker.