Preston North End 0 Everton 5

IT'S never easy being beaten 5-0 but Preston manager David Moyes found a crumb of comfort in their pre-season defeat against Everton at Deepdale last night.

The Second Division champions were simply outclassed -- and the North End boss has promised a lot of hard work, and improvement, during training in the next 10 days before their opening First Division fixture at Grimsby.

"We will learn a lesson from this," said Moyes. "We will learn from their movement, mobility and strength.

"We looked naive defensively and we will be trying to eradicate this as quickly as possible on the training ground."

The boss was perhaps a little harsh on his side after Premiership Everton simply looked awesome, taking a four goal lead by the half hour.

It was unexpected after the Toffeemen had lost their opening two friendlies -- against Dundee United and, of course, Blackburn -- while North End were chalking up their eighth pre-season game.

It had been a mixed summer for the Whites. An opening 6-1 hammering of UniBond side Bamber Bridge seemed to signal what was to come but they were then held 1-1 by Chorley.

A trip to Moyes' native Scotland was next but a 1-0 victory over Livingston was followed by a 1-0 defeat to Falkirk. Then it was Ireland and, although North End enjoyed a 3-2 victory at Cliftonville, the trip was overshadowed by the 1-0 loss to Glentoran -- especially as skipper Sean Gregan was sent off and will now miss the first two games of the season.

He will be joined on the sidelines by central defender Michael Jackson who was carrying a three-game suspension over from last season and his defensive partner Ryan Kidd, after a neck operation, will be out of action for at least a month.

A behind-closed-doors game against St Johnstone also didn't go to plan for Preston and, with the defeat by Everton, Moyes will now be looking at Saturday's final friendly against Primera Liga opposition Athletico Bilbao to give his side a boost.

Saying that, Bilbao include Spanish internationals Jose Exteberria -- who scored against Solvenia in Euro 2000 -- and Ismael Urzaiz, another international to be feared.

Moyes hasn't ruled out another swoop into the transfer market before then. He has already spent £875,000 this summer -- £375,000 on midfielder Steve Robinson from Bournemouth and a joint club record £500,000 on winger Iain Anderson from Toulouse. North End have also confirmed that they have made a 'substantial bid' for £1million-rated Sheffield Wednesday striker Richard Cresswell.

Asked about that progress, Moyes would only say: "I'll keep that one to myself," although it was reported Bristol City were also interested.

But the Preston boss could only stand back and envy Walter Smith's front line.

"They have made some great signings. Their two central midfielders were excellent, we just could not cope with them, and their two centre forwards and wide players. In fact, all their forwards. They just all played really well," said Moyes.

Berforehand, the Preston fans -- the crowd was 13,331 -- showed which games they were looking forward to this season, shouting "Bring on Rovers" and "Bring on Burnley."

Swedish international Niclas Alexandersson headed the opener on five minutes.

Danish international Thomas Gravesen, the villain against Blackburn after his sending off, showed the skilful side by chipping David Lucas from about 20 yards out. Number three was on 24 minutes, when former Arsenal youngster Stephen Hughes fired in a low cross which Francis Jeffers clipped into the net.

Five minutes later, it was four with a brilliant chip by £2.2m Alexandersson from the edge of the area. And on 79 minutes, Jeffers added the fifth.