Tomasz Frankowski had a 20-yard right-foot shot straight at Nash after three minutes and Patrick Agyemang had a 25-yard shot which sailed high and wide soon after.
Jason Jarrett, on loan from Norwich City, dispatched a 25-yard shot which Stefan Postma dived to his left to make a great save after 34 minutes.
Preston captain Graham Alexander had a 30-yard shot which was deflected by Mark Kennedy for a corner and Lewis Neal fired a corner into the near post but the ball was cleared by Keith Lowe.
Alexander hit a free-kick from 30 yards wide of the right-hand post and just before the interval Neal made it 1-0 with his second goal of the season.
His 30-yard shot was deflected by Joleon Lescott into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
Preston made it 2-0 after 71 minutes when substitute Chris Sedgwick fired over a cross and Brett Ormerod bravely dived to head the ball from five yards into the bottom corner of the net.
His joy at scoring though was tempered as Ormerod clashed with Lescott and the Wolves keeper and remained motionless for six minutes and had to be stretchered off in a neck brace.
Nash made a great save towards the end when he dived to his right and caught the ball from a Rob Edwards header.