Accrington Stanley youth extended their unbeaten run to seven games defeating Lancashire rivals Preston North End by five goals to one.

Stanley got off to the perfect start when a well worked corner fell to captain Liam Goulding at the edge of the area and he shot across goal and found the bottom corner to give his side the lead inside five minutes.

Luke Greaves then made a superb block to deny James Boyd as he steamed through on goal, before Sean Holmes fired a long-range free-kick over the crossbar.

A clinical finish from James Jenkins doubled the lead after only 16 minutes as the forward latched onto a superb Max Hazeldine chipped pass.

Three minutes later Hazeldine got on the scoresheet himself, beating a number of defenders on the left-flank and cut inside bending an effort in off the far post.

Jack Hartley came close when the young winger cut in from the right and directed a left-footed effort towards the near post but he could only find the side netting.

Goulding released Hazeldine down the left hand side on the stroke of half-time and the winger cut inside onto his favored right foot and forced a superb save out of Mathew Hudson in the Preston goal.

Nathan Webb rose highest to meet Hartley’s resulting corner, but he couldn’t keep his header on target.

After containing some early second-half pressure, Hazeldine began to burst through the heart of the defence but was cynically fouled by Boyd and Dieter Downey struck the free-kick straight at the goalkeeper.

Downey then had an optimistic 35-yards volley land just over the crossbar, and Hazeldine forced Hudson into a smart save with a low drive from outside the area.

Stanley continued to build the pressure on the visitors goal as Webb was denied one-on-one, but Preston finally broke when Downey got to the by-line and cut it back to Webb, leaving North End defender Bradley Roscoe no other option but to chest the ball into his own goal.

A superb 25-yard pile driver from Downey on 86 minutes completed the rout, and he nearly doubled his tally a few minutes later landing a shot the wrong side of the post.

The visitors had the final word as Sam Livsey headed a consolation goal in the fourth minute of added time to take the edge off Stanley’s five-star performance.