PRESTON'S promotion dream died the most agonising death in front of 1300 Northenders at the Priestfield Stadium and more than 6,000 watching via the big screen at Deepdale.

Level after the first leg, Preston needed a 1-0 win to ensure passage to the Wembley final. In theory, it seemed simple, but on the night, PNE got off to the worst possible start.

Within one minute, they were a goal down after Carl Asaba and Robert Taylor played some neat, intricate, passing football from an Ashby long ball, with Asaba touching the ball through to skipper Andy Hessenthaler.

The number eight wasted no time in rifling the ball past David Lucas to send the Priestfield stadium into raptures, while Deepdale, which had developed a carnival atmosphere before the kickoff as the fans packed into the Sir Tom Finney Stand, fell silent.

The Preston fans sat in Lancashire struggled to comprehend what had happened.

That goal was the deciding factor in the play-off game as North End crashed to a 1-0 defeat on the night and 2-1 on aggregate to the Gills.

North End soon rallied - as did the fans - but not before Mark Patterson had a free kick five yards outside of the North End box. He played it square to Guy Butters who hit one of the half-dozen North End players to remove the risk posed to North End.

The Lilywhites hit back, with David Eyres, hero on Sunday, Jon Macken, Dominic Ludden and Sean Gregan, possibly the most hated man in the Priestfield, all having chances which went agonisingly close to levelling things up.

A screaming 20-yarder from Ludden rebounded to Gregan, but the ball ricocheted twice to reach Nicky Southall, much to the delight of the Gillingham fans who had begun to notice that North End were now the side on top.

Mark Rankine was all set to shoot after the ball was played forward five minutes before half time, but as his foot was about to make impact, Adrian Pennock kept Gillingham's slender lead in tact.

Fired up by a tough half-time talk from Moyes, North End stepped up a gear against a rapidly tiring Gillingham side but not before Gregan was booked for a challenge on Hessenthaler.

Macken was the first to have a go, playing a great ball through to Ludden seven minutes after the re-start. Ludden tried to play the ball over the keeper but instead it floated across goal to be comfortably caught by Vince Bartram.

A free kick right on the edge of the PNE box threatened to quash any hope of a North End come back after Asaba was felled by Murdock. Fortunately, Butters' shot just hit the wall.

From then on, it was PNE all the way, with Alexander having a good attempt before, on 58 minutes, Jon Macken was allowed to cut through the normally watertight Gills' defence to force a fantastic save from Bartram.

On came top-scorer Kurt Nogan for Mark Rankine, and Murdock departed in favour of Julian Darby. Nogan immediately linked up with Alexander, whose shot went just three inches wide. When would North End score? The answer, tragically, was never. Even with super-sub Jason Harris, who linked-up well with Jackson on 91 minutes before seeing a 93rd minute attempt go astray after a mad scramble in the box.

The final whistle went, North End's season was over. After spending so much time in second spot, almost guaranteed automatic promotion, a last month slip up left them in the playoffs and ultimately, Lady Luck just wasn't on PNE's side.

Although bitterly disappointed, as the 1,300 North End fans left the Priestfield and the 6,000 departed from Deepdale, one sentence echoed around: At least there's next season.

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