Swansea City 4 Preston North End 0

After a midweek reprieve which saw Preston knock Stockport County out of the League Cup, it was back to business as usual, as inexperience, slack defending and squandered chances saw Preston slump to a humiliating defeat. Even worse for Preston's long suffering supporters was that this defeat meant their team was rooted to the foot of the division on the same day that bitter rivals, Blackpool, not only comfortably beat Wigan by the same score but also went top of the Premiership, albeit after just one game.
This win, Swansea's biggest in two years, began halfway through the first half following a period in which Preston had looked comfortable, when Stephen Dobbie fired in from 18 yards following a mistake by rookie winger, Mayer. Preston nearly equalised immediately after the restart, but Hayes fired straight at the Swansea keeper. In the last 5 minutes of the first half, Swansea scored twice, first through Pratley on 40 minutes and then Dyer 3 minutes later, meaning the contest was over at half time with Preston showing little chance of getting anything from the game.
Preston's Keeper, Andrew Lonergan was kept busy in the second half and but for his acrobatics, firstly keeping out Sinclair and then Pratley, the scoreline could have been worse for the Lilywhites. However, Lonergan was powerless to stop the Swansea fourth as Cotterill scored from the spot following a foul on Dyer by Treacy. Treacy nearly made ammends soon after, but hit the bar when he should have done better.
Preston's manager Darren Ferguson was optimistic he could turn round Preston's first consecutive defeats at the start of a season for 21 years, as well as their failure to win in the last 10 away matches, but how long the North End supporters' patience will last may be a different story.