JUST five minutes into the game, Bebington's Mark Wilkie scrambled the ball home following a neat short corner routine. Preston's party was in danger of being gate crashed.

But Phil Bowman soon restored parity as he turned the ball home from close range following Richard Sullivan's short corner strike.

The champions elect then launched wave after wave of attacks on the visitors goal but were denied by some excellent goal tendering or by their own woeful finishing in front of goal.

However, chief antagonist, Mark Wilkie returned once more to puncture Preston's bubble. The lanky striker steered the ball past Simon Eccleston in goal following another well worked penalty corner routine.

Head coach, Colin Sinclair, quickly eased any nerves at half-time and sent his team out with a simple message in their ears - Win the title. And Preston thanks in main to Philip Bowman did just that.

Within minutes of the restart, Jim Blackburn exchanged passes with David Sullivan before finding Bowman who skilfully guided the ball into the far corner of the goal. On came super-sub Luke Wilson. Wilson immediately picked up the tempo of the game with his powerful and direct dribbling.

A third goal seemed inevitable as Bowman and Sinclair saw shots flash narrowly wide of goal. The crowd gasped in disbelief but Wilson had other ideas. The 19 year old Newman College student soon had the crowd on their feet again with a wonderfully improvised finish. Clearly unbalanced, Wilson lifted the ball over a crowd of players to send Preston into the lead.

But Bebington would not lie down and moments after Preston's third goal, Simon Eccleston was forced to make a fine reaction save to preserve his side's lead. Preston then immediately returned to familiar territory as Bowman completed his hat-trick by slamming the ball into the Bebington backboard for his 25th goal of a memorable season.

Preston 4 Bebington 2