Jermaine Beckford hit a Wembley hat-trick as Preston ended their play-off jinx at the 10th attempt.
The striker, fittingly wearing the No 10 shirt, wrote his name in North End folklore as they swept aside Swindon to clinch promotion to the Championship.
Preston had lost their previous nine play-off campaigns – the worst record of any club. But they found accommodating opposition in Swindon, who simply rolled over after Beckford opened the scoring on just three minutes.
He has reached 20 goals this season despite missing a chunk of the campaign suffering from a type of vertigo, but the on-loan Bolton forward is now poised to climb the football ladder once again.
Whether that is with Preston remains to be seen as, having been released by Wanderers, Beckford is now a free agent. But Preston’s manager, Simon Grayson, will worry about that another day after victory provided him with a record four-timer – he had previously guided Blackpool, Leeds and Huddersfield up from League One.
That he would achieve such an impressive feat rarely looked in doubt after Beckford got his foot to Paul Gallagher’s free-kick to prod Preston in front. To add to Swindon’s misery, their captain, Nathan Thompson, fell awkwardly under Beckford and had to be carried off on a stretcher.
Ten minutes Gallagher had time to pick out Paul Huntington, who was unmarked as he guided the ball home from the edge of the six-yard box. Just before half-time Beckford all but wrapped up the result when he turned inside Jordan Turnbull on the edge of the box before curling a superb effort beyond Wes Foderingham and into the corner.
Four minutes into the second half Beckford raced clean through on goal, only for Foderingham to stick out a leg and divert the ball wide. But there was only going to be one outcome when, in the 57th minute, Joe Garner sent his strike partner through again and this time Beckford made no mistake.
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