THIS repeat of last season's Lancashire Cup final was played in three periods to enable the managers to make optimum use of substitutions.

The first 20 minutes were evenly contested, with little evidence of rustiness following the summer break.

The only score was a penalty goal for the visitors, but Hoppers increased their lead to 10 points with a converted try early in the second period.

Sedgley came back strongly and sustained pressure on the Preston line resulting in a try for impressive stand-off Will Bate, a close-season recruit from Eccles.

It was 5-10 going into the last third of the game, but Preston were always marginally the better, as they had been back in April, and they made the game safe with two further tries. Once again Sedgley could be proud of a good effort against very strong opposition.