FANS TO WEMBLEY
CHESTERFIELD manager Paul Cook declared himself delighted with the resolve shown by his players not to crumble after falling behind early on in their play-off semi-final first-leg defeat to Preston.
Jermaine Beckford struck the decisive goal just six minutes into the clash at the Proact Stadium, but Preston, who scored 79 league goals this term, failed to add to their advantage.
And Cook feels his team still have a fighting chance to reach Wembley when they run out at Deepdale today.
“After the disappointment of conceding early on, I thought we were terrific,” said the 48-year-old, a top target of Portsmouth for their managerial vacancy.
“If they had gone on and got a second goal it would have left us with a mountain to climb, but that is not the case.
“At 1-0, the next goal in the tie is huge and we believe we can get it.
“It was a great night for our players because when you go up against these teams you can get found out, but that certainly never happened to us.
“We’ve got to believe in what we do. I do, our players do and our supporters do as well. I must say a big thank you to all our fans.”
Preston shook off the disappointment of failing to secure automatic promotion by making the best possible start.
Chris Humphrey played in Beckford to clip his finish over goalkeeper Tommy Lee and silence the buoyant home crowd.
Lee was on hand to deny Joe Garner soon afterwards, while at the other end Sam Johnstone kept out Dan Gardner’s effort. Bad blood between the teams in a fiery first half continued at the break with a coming together as they made their way down the tunnel.
And, shortly after the restart, Jimmy Ryan was perhaps fortunate to escape with only a yellow card for swinging an elbow at Preston’s Paul Gallagher.
Chesterfield went on to dominate the second period with Gary Roberts and Ollie Banks both going close, but Preston held firm to take a slender advantage back home.