PROUD Preston's rollercoaster ride to glory is complete.

Gary Peters' battlers clinched promotion and the Third Division title on Saturday with a gutsy 2-0 win at Hartlepool.

The travelling thousands, who kept faith with North End through thin and even thinner, watched in wonder as their heroes took a firm grip on their first piece of silverware for 25 years.

Goals from Simon Davey and Andy Saville paved the way for an avalanche of emotion as, at 4.45pm on Saturday, the long wait ended. Champagne corks popped and the party began.

All right, there were a couple of scares on the way - but no one was about to deny Preston their moment of glory.

Certainly not title rivals Gillingham. The wait for their result seemed endless. Finally, it came through - 0-0...the championship was bound for Deepdale.

It all began to go right on 37 minutes when Davey blasted home the first goal.

Preston took Hart. And, eight minutes from time, Saville - returning to the club where he first made his mark - crashed in the crown topper.

Success was sweet indeed!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.