Wednesday 2 February 2000

Aristocratic PNE are lords of the Manor! By Brian Ellis Oxford United 0 Preston North End 4 High-rollers Preston looked to the Manor born just three days after lording it at Goodison Park. A second 4-0 away win of the new millennium put North End back amongst the upper crust of Division Two. Boss David Moyes complained it was more red blooded than blue blooded from his footballing aristocrats. But after the extreme physical and mental test of an FA Cup tie against Everton, it was still a quality thumping to strike fear through the promotion pack. Two more goals from top marksman Jonathan Macken – that’s 20 now for the season – knocked the stuffing out of strugglers Oxford. And when David Eyres and Michael Appleton completed the misery late on, the gulf in class between the top and bottom ends of the table looked immense. The result moved Preston back up to second spot, a point behind Bristol Rovers with a game in hand. It made them the first team in the division to hit the 50-goal milestone. It also put them above North West rivals Wigan after months of playing second fiddle. And at long last North End’s goal difference – a factor which could become increasingly important as the season wears on – is now better than Latics’ as well. Plenty of reasons there, you might think, to put a smile on the face on a wet Tuesday at the Manor Ground. But it shows how far Preston have come that a four-goal demolition of opponents who were playing in Division One just nine months ago can still attract the wrath of the manager AND an apology from the players themselves. “The lads all agree. The result was great, but not the performance,” said Moyes later. “If we are being perfectly honest we only played in second gear.” Well if that was second, heaven help anyone who crosses the road when North End are in overdrive. Any away team which scores four times, has a fifth ruled out which looked to have crossed the goal-line – and keeps a clean sheet at the other end – hasn’t done too badly in my book. Granted the display was a couple of notches down from the standard set on the big stage on Saturday when the side outplayed Everton for long periods and were desperately unlucky not to at least claim a replay. But the conditions were more testing and the opposition more frantic. And in the circumstances Preston can feel satisfied with a job well done, even if it took the now-familiar second half surge to put the opposition firmly in their place. They must also be cheered by the return of quality striker Steve Basham for his first start in almost five months. He was drafted in to replace Bjarki Gunnlaugsson who was away playing for Iceland – the only change to the side which did so well against Everton. And, although the 23-year-old looked ring rusty, the 88 minutes he got under his belt will have done him the world of good. Skipper Sean Gregan defied the odds to play, despite a painful knee injury from Goodison. And when it looked certain that the match was won, he was spared the last 10 minutes and replaced by Paul McKenna. On Oxford’s sloping pitch it was largely uphill for North End in the first half as the rain cascaded down. Yet Basham went close with a header from Graham Alexander’s driven cross after just six minutes. By rights the home side should have grabbed the lead on the quarter hour in an amazing scramble. First keeper Tepi Moilanen pulled off a breathtaking stop to turn a close range piledriver from Joey Beauchamp over the bar from a crouching position. Then, from the corner, Paul Powell’s goalbound shot was blocked on the line by a full stretch Gregan and Graham Alexander performed a similar spot of heroics to keep out the rebound from Matt Murphy. All desperate stuff. But, within a minute, Preston had gone up the slope and shown United just how this scoring thing is done. Basham was fouled on the left of the box, David Eyres sent over the free kick, Basham nodded forward for Macken and he spun round to blast in from six yards for his 19th of the season. On 19 minutes only Andy Gray’s virtual reality machine would have told us if North End should have been two-up. Colin Murdock’s close range nudge from a Michael Jackson header was bundled out of the goalmouth, the visitors screamed that it had crossed the line, but in the absence of a flag from his assistant standing by the corner flag, referee Alan Butler waved play on. Beauchamp was a constant threat, especially downhill. And he was only inches away from levelling with a rasper from 30 yards. And then Preston survived another mad scramble in their goalmouth when old boy Nigel Jemson’s shot was beaten out by Rob Edwards, only for Jamie Cook’s effort on the rebound to be smartly saved by Tepi on his line. Jemson, who was making his return to the Manor Ground after two years away at Bury and Ayr United, had an otherwise uneventful match. Not so Eyres who, just before the break, hit a screamer which cannoned back off keeper Paul Lundin. With the slope in their favour in the second half, North End took complete control and Oxford failed to find anything to test Tepi after that. It took them just five minutes to double their lead and kill off all hope their hosts may have been harbouring of salvaging a point. Alexander smashed a shot into the box after Eyres had pulled a corner back to him, the ball was not cleared, Jackson headed it forward and MACKEN turned to send an unstoppable shot past Lundin. With 20 in the bag, and a hat-trick on the night looking a distinct possibility, Macken went in search of that elusive third goal. But he was inches wide with a curler from the edge of the box and saw another effort deflected past a post. Eyres was denied for a second time by a superb save from Lundin as he hammered in a shot at the far post. But, just when it looked like this wasn’t his night, North End won a 73rd minute free kick just outside the ‘D’. Eyres stepped up to curl a left foot shot round the wall, the keeper saw it too late and was completely wrong-footed as the ball whistled past him. Appleton was unlucky with a 25-yard effort which Lundin struggled to hold. But he too got his just rewards with almost the last kick of the match. The ball fell to Appleton outside the Oxford box and he crisply picked his spot just inside the right-hand post.

©2000 Lancashire Evening Post Ltd.