The Sky Blues fall to their first home defeat since the start of November with Simon Whaley's first half goal enough to give Preston's play-off hopes a massive boost.
Dennis Wise returned to the Coventry City midfield following his two-match ban while Ady Williams came back into defence for Richard Shaw.
Preston created the first opportunity in the seventh minute when Simon Whaley found space on the left hand side and teed up Paul McKenna but his low shot from the edge of the area went harmlessly wide.
North End were enjoying the better of it in the opening stages and a mistimed challenge from Ady Williams saw him become the first player to be booked by the referee inn the eleventh minute.
And in the 16th minute Whaley sent a header a fraction wide after Chris Sedgwick was given too much time and space inside the area.
City's first effort on target did not come until the 21st minute when James Scowcroft tried his luck from outside the box and while his shot was well struck, it was a fairly routine save by North End keeper Carlo Nash.
Preston had been threatening to do some damage and it was former Bury striker Whaley looking the most likely player on the park to score, so it was no surprise when he opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a crisply struck shot from 25 yards. Again, there were question marks over how much time and space he had been given to shoot but the goal went with the run of play and left City in no doubt that they would need to raise their game.
Stern John had a golden opportunity to level things up with five minutes left in the half. Wise threaded a delightful ball through the Preston defence, leaving the Trinidad and Tobago international one on one with Nash but he was quick to narrow the angles and blocked the shot well.
Micky Adams opted to not to make any substitutions at half time. Although City had been well below par in comparison to recent home performances, they had raised their game towards the end of the opening period and could well have been level but for John 's miss.
But with no early goal in the second half, the City gaffer made a double switch ten minutes after the restart as Don Hutchison replaced the out of sorts Adebola, with McSheffrey moving into attack, and Richard Duffy came on in a straight swap for Whing. Billy Davies also made an attacking switch, taking off Marcus Stewart for Dave Hibbert.
As the hour mark passed, the Sky Blues seemed to have benefited from the substitutions and had an edge to their attacking play. Stern John played a delightful cross into the six yard box that caused all sorts of problems and the merest of touches from Wise would have seen City score but he failed to get the vital touch. McSheffrey then pulled in from the right touchline and fired a low shot straight at Nash.
There were several other close run things for the Sky Blues, with goalmouth scrambles resulting in nothing and John fired over from close range but it seemed like it wasn't to be City's day as the clock ticked by.
With five minutes of stoppage time signalled, Adams threw on Matt Heath up front for the closing seconds but there was no late equaliser for the Sky Blues who slumped to their second defeat in succession.
Coventry: Fulop; Whing (Duffy 55); Hall; Page; Williams; Doyle; Adebola (Hutchison 55); McSheffrey; Scowcroft; John; Wise (Heath 90) . Subs (not used): Ince; Impey
Booked: Williams (11)
Preston: Nash; Alexander; Davis; Mawene; Jarrett; Sedgwick (Stock 74) ; Agyemang (Wilson 80); Mears; Whaley; McKenna; Stewart (Hibbert 58). Subs (not used): Ward; Neal;
Booked: McKenna (70)
Referee: M Pike
Attendance: 21,023
