Newcastle moved back to the top of the Sky Bet Championship table with a 2-0 victory over struggling Wigan, as the Mackems lost at home to Chelsea to stay bottom of the Premiership.
Former Latics midfielder Mohamed Diame scored the opening goal in the 26th minute and Christian Atsu made sure of the points 12 minutes from time.
The victory restored Newcastle's one-point lead over Brighton, who beat Blackburn on Tuesday.
Sky Bet Ch'ship
QPR 0 - 1 Derby
Wigan 0 - 2 Newcastle
N Forest 1 - 1 Preston
Derby moved into the play-off places after Tom Ince's late goal earned them a 1-0 victory over QPR. The in-form midfielder struck with four minutes left at Loftus Road.
Nottingham Forest and Preston shared the points at the City Ground in a 1-1 draw.
Simon Makienok opened the scoring for the visitors in first-half injury time but a Chris Maxwell own goal earned Forest a point.