PNE's second half strike force made the best possible claim for a starting berth when the season gets underway in a week's time after their goals off the bench gave PNE a hugely encouraging victory in their final warm-up game against SPL high fliers Hibernian.

Neil Mellor scored within a minute of the re-start to put Preston ahead and Chris Brown netted a brace to give Preston a comfortable cushion, and only an unfortunate late own goal prevented North End from sealing victory with a clean sheet as accompaniment.

This Easter Road encounter was intended as a realistic test of the kind of fixture North End will face when they return to competitive Championship action on 8th August, and from the first minute they knew they were going to be in a game.

Merourane Zemmama, the Moroccan trickster who spent last season on loan with Al Shaab in the United Arab Emirates for personal reasons, was immediately into rocket launcher speed, fizzing past skipper Callum Davidson on his outside and cutting into the box to deliver a powerful but blocked shot with less than 45 seconds played.

Preston immediately responded to the wake up call, and set about controling the remainder of the opening 15-20 minutes, before the half's balance of power started swinging like a pendulum.

In their initial period of dominance, Callum Davidson sent a shot just wide of target via a deflection off centre half Chris Hogg who made an important interception, while Stephen Elliott got a touch on a Richard Chaplow drive to turn it away from goal, but the initial 20-yard shot was probably going wide anyway.

Hibernian's first period of sustained dominance kept Andy Lonergan interested if not severely tested, but it may just be a testiment to how easy he makes certain saves look that he turned Derek Riordan's 25-yard free kick away from the top corner of the goal without ever looking threatened, and then held on with gloves of steel when the same striker tried his luck from the same range in open play.

He had less to do from a Zemmama strike that merely rolled towards his near post with no pace behind it, but the manner in which the winger created his own opening - spinning between Davidson and Wallace through the narrowest of gaps after taking David Van Zantan's throw on the full with his back to goal - was a sight to behold.

With further half chances at either end coming to nothing  before the break, the home side seemed content with their lot as they re-emerged unchanged, but it was a different Preston North End that re-emerged for the second - metaphorically and physically.

Off went Parkin and Elliott after a good 45 minute stint, on came Neil Mellor and Chris Brown, and within little more than a minute, the switch had worked.

Mellor got the better of centre half Bamba as the nearest pair to goal, and though the defender made a desperate lunge to try and halt his progress, PNE's centre forward shrugged him off and tapped the ball past Ma-Kalambay in no man's land as he raced off his line.

One almost led to two, but a further diagonal drive from Davidson from Barry Nicholson's quick thinking at a free kick whistled just past the post, and Preston were left indebted to Lonergan's reflexes again as he turned Riordan's powerful strike over the angle of the goal on the hour.

Having maintained parity in that incident, earlier scorer Mellor then showed his creative side by breaking behind the last line of defence with 21 minutes to play, crossing low into Brown's path, only for the striker to miss his kick. Fortunately Wallace was on hand to turn the ball back into Davidson's path, and his well struck effort was redirected by Brown to wrong-foot the home keeper and double Preston's lead.

A third Preston goal with nine minutes remaining sealed a fine end to the pre-season programme, with one of the friendly period's most aesthetically pleasing finishes to boot.

Nicholson had switched to the right flank in a re-shuffle following an earlier flurry of substitutions, and the new position appeared to suit him to a tee as he crossed for Brown to head with great accuracy into the bottom left hand corner of the net as he looked at it.

One minor note of disappointment came with just three minutes to go as Chaplow's attempts to clear sub Kurtis Byrne's cross ended in failure - the ball hitting his outstetched body and rolling over the line - but the midfielder had an otherwise fine game in a commanding PNE performance, particularly after the break.

As pre-season preparations go, this was ideal. Roll on August 8th.

Hibs: Ma-Kalambay, Van Zantan (sub McCormack 63), Murray, Hogg, Bamba (sub Gailbraith 84), McBride (sub Wotherspoon 34), Zemmama, Cregg (sub Hanlon 63), Nish (sub Stevenson 82), Riordan, Rankin (sub Byrne 82). Subs not used: Flynn, Thicot, McCann.

PNE: Lonergan (sub Henderson 62), M Hart (sub Jones 62), C Davidson, Chaplow, Chilvers (sub Trotman 79), Nolan, Sedgwick (sub Carter 62), Nicholson, Elliott (sub Mellor 46), Parkin (sub Brown 46), Wallace.