blasts

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PRESTON 3

FOREST 2

BILLY Davies subjected his players to a 10 minute rollocking after they came nail-bitingly close to squandering a three goal lead at Deepdale.

North End coasted to a 3-0 lead against a Forest side which lacked flair and imagination, opting compensate with niggling challenges and excessive back-chat.

It was that sort of behaviour which led to ex-Claret Gareth Taylor being sent off just seven minutes after coming on as a second-half sub. His off-the-ball clash with Claude Davis was clocked by the assistant referee.

But instead of capitalising on their man-advantage, North End instead nearly collapsed.

Twice in 90 seconds, Marlon King found the back of the net - first with a wicked deflection off Davis, and a second with a blistering shot the Jamaican defender should have cleared.

Preston hung on for the final whistle, and when it came, Billy Davies unleashed a verbal volley which left the players in no doubt they should never take their foot off the pedal like that again.

Fans, however, had witnessed arguably North End's best football at home this season - for the first 75 minutes at least.

Paul McKenna's close-range header from Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu's floating cross gave the home side an 11th minute lead, before skipper Chris Lucketti hit home with his head on 36 minutes after Eddie Lewis' corner found the skipper perfectly.

The American winger repeated the trick in the 57th minute, sending in a corner which met with Dickson Etuhu.

Davies said: "I think that was a cheap lesson for us, that we must not take our foot off the pedal like that again. It could have been a very costly two points to lose."

Striker David Healy, currently subject of a £600,000 bid by Leeds, missed Saturday's game, but Billy Davies insisted it was because the Northern Ireland international had contracted an eye infection.