[themaclad]

Scored five could have had double figures against Crewe's hapless defence, strange though at 2-1 were holding on and if the disallowed goal for Crewe had counted might well have been a different result. North End took the lead after 10 minutes when Garner fired home past Rabchubka, by the time we had scored Gallagher had missed a simple chance and Johnson had hit the post. Wasn't long before it was two Gallagher's super cross found Garner nodding past Chubs too double the lead. Crewe were being taken to the cleaners but with their first chance they scored, a free kick from Tate was headed on by Haber and Turton in space cooly finished past Johnstone. With the goal the tension went up a notch and Crewe almost levelled when Haber got in far too easy but was denied by the home keeper.
North End started well with Beckford having a shot cleared from the line.
Shortly afterwards the home side possibly got a lucky break although I thought there was a foul, a ball into the home penalty area was cleared by Laird onto Ajose who scored, there seemed to be a push on Laird which the referee also seem to spot and disallowed the goal much to Crewe's annoyance. It was a wake up call for the home side.
North End then created chance after chance and Beckford wasted the lot, but his partner up front made sure of the points with 18 minutes left. There semed to be no danger when the ball was played to Garner on the edge of the box, he looked up and curled the ball past the keeper. Seven minutes later he tapped in for his and the teams fourth after Beckford had been denied by the post. There was still time for Beckford to finally find the net after the Crewe backline disappeared on mass. Swindon appear to be the only ones left to chase us for second place, Grayson however still has eyes on catching Bristol. One down 11 to go.


Preston North End 5 Crewe Alexandra 1 Att 10203