A quick turn around as the sides play the second leg less than three days given the season both sides have had that is a short recovery period considering the Championship players get a weeks break. North End players seem to have been running on empty for the last couple of games but winning a game always breaks extra energy.could be a couple of fresh faces in the side. As for Chesterfield main worry is keeper Tommy Lee could kick at the end of the game and they did not have a sub keeper last night. Another roller coaster on the cards.
Chesterfield keeper Tommy Lee injured got an emergency loan keeper in Joe Murphy has history at Deepdale giving it large to our fans last season when with Coventry, he will get a lovely reception
Well if you are going to Wembley tapping one in from 45 yards is probably the way to seal it, virtually through at 2-0 Beckford's finish put the gloss on a very professional second half performance to make it 3-0. As predicted Chesterfield didn't roll over creating and wasting several good chances which in the end cost them the tie. All the early pressure came from the visitors with Cluclas firing wide in the early stages. As with the game on Thursday Roberts created problems for the home side but the lack of a goal poacher was a major problem for the Spirites. On 36 minutes Cluclas beat the offside trap(he didn't he was offside) but his tame shot was easy scooped over the bar by Johnstone. It was a costly miss within a minute Beckford had scored turning the defender and firing home from 6 yards he may have been slightly offside but it stood. The first 15 minutes of the second half were crucial plenty of Chesterfield pressure but personally thought North End defended brilliantly in the second half, Wright, Clarke and Huntington were superb. After the initial pressure North End started to play on the break and the impressive Kilkenny found himself in space and fed Johnson who was eventually brought down in the area by Murphy. Garner did the rest. Almost there although there was still an amount of tension in the air especially when O'Shea hit the post. All that was left was Beckford's goal, pitch invasion by glory hunters and now the fun job of tickets, accomodation etc etc. Most importantly going up. Enjoy today JOB NOT DONE. Finally credit Paul Cook took defeat with good grace and humour as he possibly departs Chesterfield for Portsmouth. Preston North End 3 Chesterfield 0 Att 15641
PNE's near success seems to be due to a solid defence and good strikers. The midfield led by Gallagher is a bit hit and miss. I thought bringing Kilkenny back, not liked by many, seemed to give the m'field some guts. He has been criticised for his crab like passing, but his forward passes were very telling.