Preston made it two cup victories inside three days after comfortably seeing off Accrington Stanley, booking their place in the third round of the Youth Alliance Cup.
The Lilywhites ran out 5-0 winners thanks to a hat trick from striker Michael McLellan and goals from Seanen Clucas and Cameron Parish.
Manager Jamie Hoyland made nine changes from their last outing at the Stadium of Light, with Bailey Wright and penalty shootout hero Dom Comrie the only players to retain their places.
But the new look Preston team didn't take long to get off the mark. Striker Matt Dudley was brought down from behind in the area and a penalty was awarded. McLellan confidently stepped up to send Stanley keeper Matt Ince the wrong way, giving North End a fifth minute lead.
Preston were soon two goals to the good in the 17th minute, winger Will Hayhurst managed to evade the challenge of Accrington full back Tom Murphy, switching possession to Parish who drilled the ball across goal. The cross wasn't quite cleared by Stanley's defence allowing Clucas to pick the loose ball up and calmly slot home.
Two then turned to three in the 19th minute as Preston where completely dominate in the early stages of this Lancashire derby. Another defensive error from Accrington gave possession away cheaply to North End midfielder Oliver Devaney, who played the ball over the top for McLellan to rifle a shot into the top right, giving Ince in the visitors goal no chance.
McLellan, who played a part in the youth team's FA Youth Cup win at the Stadium of Light, was targeting his second hat trick of the campaign after getting three away at Morecambe last October. He had the opportunity to do this twice before half time but shot just over the bar.
Preston started the second half just as they finished the first. Good play from left back James Reece saw him cut inside to play the ball to the feet of McLellan, the striker then showed great strength to shrug off the challenge of Accrington skipper Jordan Rimmer, laying off to Devaney, but the midfielder shot well wide of the mark.
Devaney was in the thick of the action once again when he towered above Accrington midfielder Jordan Neild to win a header, which McLellan latched onto, managing to turn his man and he released a shot towards goal but couldn't direct it on target.
The Lilywhites thought they should have being awarded a second penalty in the 60th minute after shouts for a handball, but the referee was having none of it and waved the claims away.
PNE eventually made it four which practically guaranteed their place in the next round of the Youth Alliance Cup. The goal was scored in the 62nd minute courtesy of right midfielder Parish to cap off a fine performance from the Australian. The move started from an in swinging cross from Hayhurst on the left hand side, Clucas managed to meet the cross to nod down for Parish, who did the rest to put Preston 4-0 up.
Almost immediately after this PNE grabbed their fifth in the 65th minute and it was the hat trick goal for McLellan. Preston's number nine beat the Accrington offside trap and showed great skill to round the keeper to tap the ball into an empty goal and seal a very impressive win for North End.
Accrington hardly threatened Preston's goal throughout the duration of the game with Wright and Fred Holton intercepting any threat possessed by the away side. The closest the visitors came to scoring was a shot from 35 yards out from midfielder Neild, which dipped just over Comrie's bar.
Preston came within inches of making it six right at the end, substitute Scott Davidson who replaced Captain Wright played a quick free kick to Parish to cross the ball into the box, Devaney tried a half volley but couldn't get a clean connection with his shot and it was a comfortable save for Ince.
One negative from the game though was that stand in skipper Wright suffered a suspected broken nose midway through the second half. Nevertheless, Hoyland was impressed with his team's performance.
He said " I was very pleased, obviously everybody knows about the result on Wednesday night, so I rested nine of those players, just a couple played today. The lads who came from the Under 16s and the ones who have not being playing for us have put a good performance on."
PNE: Dom Comrie, Luke Clarke, James Reece, Seanen Clucas, Bailey Wright (c) (Scott Davidson, 77), Fred Holton, Cameron Parish, Oliver Devaney, Michael McLellan, Matt Dudley, Will Hayhurst. Unused subs: Sam Hart, Neil Dougan.
Accrington Stanley: Matt Ince, Luke McVarish, Tom Murphy, Jordan Rimmer, Zak Riley, Harun Bhatti (Daniel Haworth, 60), Jonny Evans (Anthony Field, 53), Jordan Neild, Marcus Carver, Jamie Larner (Scott Craggs, 80), Connor Hobson. Unused subs: Joshua Molldy, Brian McGrady.
Report by Jonathon Swift. Photos by Farran Photography
