Watch Kenneth Zohore's goal that was voted goal of the night by the EFL.
Cardiff boss Neil Warnock blasted the Football Association for scheduling games on transfer deadline day.
Warnock watched his side ease past Preston 2-0 thanks to a Peter Whittingham penalty and a sublime solo effort from Kenneth Zohore.
The 68-year-old has taken the Bluebirds from the bottom three to 15th in just over three months, but that did not stop him from tearing into the FA.
"It's a nightmare and a disgrace [putting a game on transfer deadline day]," Warnock said.
"You can't tell me the FA can't plan it where there's not a game.
"This afternoon, I should've been resting. I went to have a kip for half an hour and my phone went 20 times. It's a disgrace.
"It's typical of the FA that they haven't got the time or the inclination to try to help clubs and managers.
"They haven't obviously been in our situation. They don't know about how the phones are bloody ringing every five, 10 minutes. They haven't got a bloody clue."
Cardiff took the lead in the 18th minute after Junior Hoilett was brought down by Daniel Johnson in the box, and Whittingham made no mistake from the spot.
A moment of brilliance from Zohore, who scored on his 23rd birthday, then extended their lead 10 minutes later.
The frontman picked the ball up on the halfway line, beat three defenders and dinked the ball over Preston goalkeeper Chris Maxwell.
Zohore is starting to repay the faith Warnock has shown in him after the manager said earlier this month that the frontman had saved him from spending big money on a striker in the January transfer window.
"I won't get a striker until the summer now. We still want a top quality one to push Ken [Zohore], you need two in this league," Warnock said.
"I'm not really happy with the way the window has gone. I was close to bringing someone in on two or three occasions today.
"We could've gone for a lad I wanted at 5pm but his agent didn't ring me back until 10pm."
Meanwhile, for Preston, it is a first league defeat since Boxing Day but they are still just five points away from the top six.
North End boss Simon Grayson admitted his side were second-best in Wales.
"It was a disappointing performance and Cardiff haven't worked too hard for it tonight," he said.
"We've based our success on being hard to beat and playing attractive football, but we didn't do that. We didn't get anything out of the game and that's what we deserved. You can't give teams easy goals.
"We should've managed the game better but we have to accept it, move on and be better."