Preston North End cruised to a comfortable victory at the Sir Tom Finney Stadium by beating Bamber Bridge in their latest pre-season outing.
The Lilywhites opened the scoring from the penalty spot through Joe Garner before Jermaine Beckford doubled the away side’s lead on the stroke of half-time.
Kyel Reid grabbed the pick of the goals in the 48th minute before turning provided allowing Jordan Hugill to head home.
North End began the contest by knocking the ball around well; Andy Little seeing his flicked header saved by Lee Dovey in the Brig goal after eight minutes.
The impressive Alistair Waddecar was first to threaten the PNE backline for the home side when he created space for himself through the centre of the pitch before firing just over.
Little was again involved in PNE’s next move when he plucked Tom Clarke’s long ball out the blue Lancashire sky before dragging his shot wide from 20 yards out.
The Lilywhites opened the scoring in the 18th minute of the match when Garner found the back of the net from 12 yards after being felled; Chris Marlow the offending party after catching the Preston talisman in the head with his boot.
Garner, who missed from the spot just four days earlier, made no mistake this time as he sent Dovey the wrong way; finding the bottom left hand corner of the net.
Brig came close to hitting back soon after when Waddecar was fouled by Calum Woods before Joe Booth sent the resulting free kick just inches over the crossbar.
Brett Ormerod then came close to picking out Booth with 38 minutes on the clock but Woods was on hand to snuff out the danger posed from his back post cross.
The North End front line linked up well once more in the 41st minute when Garner picked out Beckford from Daniel Johnson’s ball into his feet on the edge of the area, but the Wembley hero had his shot smothered by the outrushing Dovey.
Down the other end, Woods had to be brave to block an effort following a goalmouth scramble in Jamie Jones’ penalty area, but the full back then turned provider as PNE went into the break with a two goal advantage.
The Preston No.2 won a dual with his marker on the edge of the box after Little got to the byline, and his shot stung the palms of Dovey; Beckford on hand to smash home the rebound to put clear daylight between the sides at the half-time interval.
Simon Grayson changed his entire line-up for the second half excluding Jones and Davies, and the Lilywhites were soon back in their stride and back on the scoresheet, this time thanks to Reid.
Bailey Wright’s through the eye of a needle like pass found Reid, and the winger surged forward before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the top right hand corner past Dovey from 20 plus yards.
Bamber Bridge made multiple changes in the ensuing 15 minutes and one of those, Green, whipped a dangerous free kick into the PNE box which Jones gathered at the second attempt in the 65th minute.
Reid was at the heart of PNE’s good work as the second half rolled on, and it was his cross that led to Preston’s fourth of the evening.
From the right hand channel Reid swung an inviting, in-swinging cross to the back post leaving Hugill with the simplest of tasks as he nodded home from close range.
As the hosts began to tire PNE stepped on the gas, Reid coming close to doubling his tally for the night before second year scholar Clive Smith got to the byline only to see his driven cross turned away from danger.
North End will ramp up their pre-season workout on Saturday when Scottish Premiership side Heart of Midlothian visit Deepdale.
Bamber Bridge line-up: Dovey (Samberg), Mahoney (Thompson 46), Marlow (Green 46), Lawlor (Alexander 73), Steel, Kay, Waddecar, McKenna (c) (Parrish 46), Ormerod (Vasey 63), Booth (Cookson 73), Barnes (Pickup 53).
Unused subs: Macken.
Preston North End line-up (first half): Jones, Woods, Clarke (c), Heaton, Davies, Welsh, Gallagher, Johnson, Beckford, Garner and Little.
Preston North End line-up (second half): Jones (James 68), Smith, Wright, Huntington, Davies (Heaton 68), Anderton, Browne, Brownhill, Reid, Hugill, Ryan.
Referee: Mr Neil Swarbrick
Attendance: 1,623