Preston North End 3 : 2 Fleetwood Town - Garner goals get PNE out of jail

Posted Sunday, October 26, 2014 by PA

Joe Garner's second-half hat-trick saw Preston come from behind to beat Fleetwood 3-2 and climb up to second in the League One table.

North End's run of six straight victories looked like coming to a halt at Deepdale as Stephen Jordan's header and a Scott Laird own goal gave the visitors an early 2-0 lead.

But striker Garner came to life after the break and scored a 19-minute treble, taking his tally for the season to 11 goals and lifting his side up into the automatic promotion places in the process.

The game was not even a minute old when Preston found themselves behind, as Jordan headed home Steven Schumacher's corner.

And things went from bad to worse for the home side six minutes later when Laird turned Antoni Sarcevic's driven cross into his own net.

Paul Gallagher twice came close to halving the deficit before half-time, only for Garner to get the ball rolling on the hour mark when he headed home a Neil Kilkenny cross.

Three minutes later Garner levelled the match, powering home another header, this time from a John Welsh Cross, before completing his hat-trick with a superb half-volley from outside the area to wrap up a seventh straight win for Simon Grayson's team.