Oxford fans might have hoped their good recent record against Preston, with six wins in their last 10 meetings, might help them out of a rut that has left them precariously sitting just above the bottom three.
The fact that Rowett had not previously tasted defeat as a manager against Preston, with eight wins and seven draws from 15 prior to this game, spread over spells with Birmingham, Derby, Stoke, Millwall, Oxford only fuelled that hope.
Preston, who had manager Paul Heckingbottom watching from the TV gantry as he begins a three-match touchline ban, are tough to beat on the road, winning four of their last eight away from Deepdale.
They went ahead after 26 minutes at the Kassam Stadium. Storey stayed in the box after advancing for a corner which had been partially cleared, and when Thierry Small swung a cross deep to the far post the big defender managed to squeeze his header through the legs of Jamie Cumming to break the deadlock.
Oxford responded well but vital blocks from Storey and Harrison Armstrong, twice, kept them at bay and when they did look like scoring the brilliant Iversen produced a terrific reflex save to keep out Ciaron Brown’s header.
At the start of the second half, substitute Stan Mills crossed for Nik Prelec but the Slovenia striker could not turn it home, and when play switched to the other end Preston doubled their lead from a very similar chance.
They worked an opening nicely as Alfie Devine played a one-two with Lewis Dobbin and then pulled the ball back for Jebbison to sweep into the net.
Oxford’s reply was again intense and within four minutes they capitalised on some hesitant defending by Andrew Hughes, with De Keersmaecker confidently finishing from the edge of the box.
Preston needed to defend well to keep their lead, and Iversen produced another fine save from a Will Vaulks volley before Will Lankshear headed against the crossbar.