WATFORD brought their 100 per cent unbeaten record to Fortress Deepdale and, after a blistering performance by North End, they went back down the M1 pointless, much like their journey to Lancashire.
In the opening exchanges, Watford looked useful but Preston soon settled down, Rankine and Appleton took the game by the scruff of the neck and with the back four being brilliantly controlled by Michael Jackson, North End started to buzz.
Ashcroft cut inside and sent in a curling cross looking for Nogan, Reeves or Cartwright to finish.
The keeper was beaten and as the ball was dipping in under the bar, Kennedy headed clear.
That was a warning to the Hornets, but they didn't heed it and paid the price.
Gary Parkinson sent a throw-in into the box, Nogan got control but his shot was charged down.
The ball rebounded back to him, he moved to his right and hit a stunning drive wide of Chamberlain into the bottom corner and Deepdale stood as a man, to greet the Welshman's first goal for North End.
Leading one-nil at half time, Preston had to soak up some pressure from the league leaders, but although Watford threatened, they weren't getting their shots on target and Moilanen dealt quite comfortably with crosses into his area.
Preston needed a goal to secure the points, to make the game safe, and they came forward in wave after wave of attacks in search of that vital strike.
Gary Parkinson played a lovely ball to Reeves on the right side of the box. The Preston striker lost Page and raced towards goal before playing in a low cross that had Watford's defence in a panic.
The ball fell to Kurt Nogan, he controlled it and shot in the same movement and the ball was a blurr as it crashed past Chamberlain and once again the Preston striker disappeared under an avalanche of white shirts.
Nogan went off to cheers from all around the ground to be replaced by Jon Macken and the youngster showed some very nice touches in the time available to him.
Mark Rankine and Michael Jackson challenged for the man of the match award and after very careful consideration I am going to give it to Michael Jackson for his part in a real thriller.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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