GRAHAM ALEXANDER doubled his goal tally for the season with a brace against a disappointingly poor Derby side.

The Scot defender put North End ahead after 12 minutes when he collected Eddie Lewis' left-wing cross into the area.

He switched the ball from his right foot to left before hitting it into the roof of the net from 10 yards.

Eight minutes later Alexander tried to repay Lewis for setting up the opener, but the American's shot was saved by leaping Derby keeper Lee Camp.

Throughout the game, the England U21 international showeed why Preston's Andrew Lonergan can't get into the nation side, denying Richard Cresswell, Patrick Agyemang and Lewis on several occasions.

But there was little he could do to stop Alexander's spot-kick in the 42nd minute, awarded after Grezegorz Rasiak was spotted handling the ball in front of his own goal.

Cresswell wrapped up the scoring three minutes from time - after seeing several other attempts saved by Camp - when he back-heeled Agyemang's right-wing cross into the net.

For North End, this was arguably their best performance of the season. Back with a 4-4-2 formation, they looked comfortable at the back, while the midfield wrestled for everything and gave the front two plenty of chances.

In Agyemang, boss Billy Davies seems to have found an ideal strike partner for Cresswell, while fellow new signing Chris Sedgwick provided the sort of danger on the right wing which had been missing for a while.

There's already talk on the terraces of Preston 'doing a Palace' this season. That's probably a bit optimistic, but a good result against high-flying Wigan at the JJB Stadium on Sunday could put a whole new spin on things.