Preston 1 Rochdale 2 NORTH End's stuttering promotion charge was brought to a halt on Saturday as the Whites slumped to defeat against Rochdale.

Preston turned in a disastrous performance and were punished for their slackness. It was a terrible day for boss Gary Peters, - the chasing pack all gained ground on PNE - but leaders Gillingham also failed to take any points.

Rochdale got off to a fantastic start and grabbed the lead after just two minutes. Mark Stuart raced through a suspect North End defence and crossed for Whitehall to head into the bottom right-hand corner.

That strike stunned Deepdale and forced the Whites to throw caution to the wind. After piling on the pressure, Preston drew level 12 minutes later. Ian Bryson fed Dean Barrick and Andy Saville pounced on his through ball to make it 1-1.

The visitors went ahead again after 38 minutes. Whitehall ripped through the disjointed PNE defence and laid-off a perfect pass for Mark Stuart, blasting the ball past Vaughan to silence the North End faithful.

Preston came out for the second half looking to get back into the game, but Rochdale had other ideas.

North End still couldn't get back on level terms and the Dale held out for a deserved victory.

This pathetic performance was the worst North End for a long time. Rochdale are from being a formidable side, yet they made this PNE outfit look incredibly average. Dale laughed their way through Preston's defence and Gary Peters needs to start asking questions about his back-line.

Saturday was a thoroughly disastrous afternoon, the only crumb of comfort being Gillingham's defeat.

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