A nervous night ended with Preston booking their place in the play-off final.

Preston defended superbly for the whole game and restricted Derby to only a handfull of chances, It could of been a less nervous evening had the assistant referee not flagged Nugent offside when he was clean through on goal, and clearly onside.

Derby tried in vain to break Preston down but just could'nt muster a decent attempt all half, and minutes before the break Preston had a clear Penalty appeal turned down when Lewis was pushed over in the area, and to make the decision worse the referee had a clear view of it.

The second half followed the pattern of the first with derby trying everything to get themselves back in the game without really troubling Nash in the Preston goal.

Once again it was Preston who had the first real chance of the half and had Nugent found the back of the net when arriving at the back post to fire wide, it would of been a more comfortable evening for all connected to North End.

Raziak was then played in nicely and got a good shot away but Nash was equal to it and palmed it away to saftey, the save being the only real one he had to make all evening.

But while the tie was 2-0 on aggregate you always felt a Derby goal could well get them right back into the tie, and on 83 mins they got the golden chance when they were awarded a very dubious penalty, but Raziak could only slam the ball against the post. And with that miss went any chance Derby had of turning the game around and also reduced Raziak to tears.

After the penalty miss North End saw the game out comfortably, and the final whistle was greeted with cheers of relieve, overjoy and excitement about another trip to Cardiff.

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Derby: Camp, Jackson, Konjic, Huddlestone, Kenna (Taylor 61), Bisgaard, Idiakez, Bolder, Smith (Reich 45), Rasiak, Peschisolido. Subs Not Used: Miller, Mills, Junior.

Booked: Rasiak, Peschisolido, Idiakez.

Preston: Nash, Hill, Davis, Lucketti, Mawene, Lewis (Broomes 90), McKenna, O'Neil (Etuhu 84), Sedgwick, Nugent (Agyemang 86), Cresswell. Subs Not Used: Ward, Mears.

Booked: O'Neil.

Agg: (0-2).

Att: 31,310.

Ref: R Beeby (Northamptonshire).

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SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

Preston North End Poll