WHEN Gramae Souness went off on one about the standard of refereeing following his side's defeat on Saturday, many put it down to simply being a bad loser.

But the Blackburn boss would have felt vindicated of such a claim had he been at Chelsea yesterday.

Not only did referee Rob Styles fail to exercise any control over what, in essence, was a thrilling encounter, he seemed to do all he could to make sure the game didn't go back to Deepdale.

His incompetent performance - matched only by that of his linesmen who seemed to be preactising their flagwaving for the Notting Hill Carnival rather than marshalling the game effectively - was summed up in the 90th minute.

Jon Macken was manhandled by Celestine Babyaro in the box, and although he managed to pull of a blinding effort which Carlo Cudicini did very well to save, you have to wonder what Rob Styles was watching at the time.

Perhaps Macken was too honest, perhaps he should have fallen to the ground. Chelsea had done it several times and fooled the foolish official.

That decision changed the course of the match, even though it was in the 90th minute.

Chelsea hit on the break - with Tepi Moilanen sprinting back to his goal after running the length of the field to play a fuller role in a corner - with Mikael Forssell cooly slotting home to create a scoreline which totally flattered Chelsea.

Preston had no control over the bungling referee. Apart from describing the late decision as 'minging' Moyes was determined to focus on the positives of the game.

The first being that North End took the lead on nine minutes. Slack marking from Babataro allowed Richard Cresswell to glance home Graham Alexander's corner.

It could have so easily been 2-0 three minutes later had a ball from Lee Cartwright not bobble badly in front of goal, thwarting an attempt from Jon Macken. The miss proved very costly indeed as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen turned on the style to put Chelsea back in charge.

First Hasselbaink charged down the left to present his strike partner with a simple tap-in at the far post. Gudjohnsen then returned the favour with a neat one-two which Hasselbaink rounded off with a fierce low shot into the far corner.

Preston would have been as good as out if goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen had not produced a smart point-blank save to deny Frank Lampard on the half hour. From the back forward, not one player in a yellow shirt put a foot wrong.

Tepi showed the sort of confidence in coming off his line which was a delight to watch. He pulled off a master save to stop Frank Lampard on 31 minutes.

Sean Gregan controlled the defence admirably while the midfield matched their opposited numbers man for man. Lee Cartwright did such a good job on controlling mouthy Gramae Le Saux that Chelsea were forced to shuffle their pack, making him swap sides with Gianfranco Zola after the first goal.

And Zola remained very, very quiet throughout the match. David Healy came on in the second half as Preston sought the equaliser which so very nearly was - or would have been - had the referee looked at his rule book recently.

Europe's top elite of referees have been at school in Monaco this week learning how to handle shirt-pulling and other tricks from players ahead of the world cup.

Mr Styles and his rag-tag officals should be returned to referee's beginners school and sent out to do school leagues - if the school leagues will have them.

Preston boss David Moyes said: "The players are very down at the moment because they have not won but they have a lot to be proud of.

"It has given them a taste for the Premiership and many of them look comfortable out there.

"I don't think we had our share of decisions today. I am tempted to use the word minging about one but..."

RESULT:

CHELSEA 3

PRESTON NORTH END 1