[xsl] trouble with preceding axis

[Duane Gran <duane.gran@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm having some trouble using the preceding axis in XPath and would  
be much obliged if someone could steer me in the right direction.  I  
have the following document:

<root>
  <item order="3">
    <label>Title</label>
  </item>
  <item order="4">
    <label>subTitle</label>
  </item>
</root>

I have the following XPath to select the second item, based on the  
value of its label child:

  //item[label = 'subTitle']

Now I want to modify this so that I refer to the preceding item  
element, the first one in the list.  I tried the following without  
success (it returns the second item element):

  //preceding::item[label = 'subTitle']

Suggestions are most welcome on this.

Duane