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As the ball nestled in the net at the Jimmy Mac end of the ground the home stands lifted for one final salute after the Clarets turned in a third good home performance in the matter of eleven days.
Owen Coyle had injury problems ahead of the game. Kevin McDonald and Ade Akinbiyi were again unavailable whilst Russell Anderson has now been ruled out for the season after suffering anterior cruciate ligament damage in the Carling Cup win over Fulham.
Anderson was at the Turf to see his place, as expected, taken by Michael Duff, whilst Joey Gudjonsson continued in midfield in the absence of McDonald. Apart from Duff's inclusion there was one other change with Steven Thompson returning in place of Robbie Blake.
Summer had finally arrived at a sun baked Turf Moor and with a healthy crowd inside the teams came out whilst the away fans were still playing with their yellow balloons. For the second season in succession they were led out by Bolton referee Mason who must have been praying that the game wouldn't start as it had done last season.
Burnley played towards the Preston fans at the cricket field end in the first half and we could and most definitely should have taken the lead in the very first minute. Martin Paterson run onto a poor back pass from Darren Carter and was one-on-one with keeper Andy Lonergan.
I thought he was just going to hit it, but he took the ball round Lonergan to the keeper's right but then got his shot horribly wrong and missed the target as he put his shot way over the bar. It was a bad miss.
We started reasonably well but when Preston got forward they were causing us some problems down our right hand side, and that's how they took the lead. Chris Sedgwick got in a cross and Steven Caldwell stretch to get his head on it but could only knock it down for Barry Nicholson who volleyed the ball home from just inside the penalty box.
Caldwell, aided and abetted by his defensive partner Clarke Carlisle, remonstrated with keeper Brian Jensen for not coming to collect the ball. No matter who or what was to blame though, we were a goal behind.
It got a bit scrappy after that as the Clarets struggled to respond but when North End left back Michael Hart committed a foul just past the half hour he certainly got more than he bargained for.
Hart went down as the referee awarded us a free kick and he had to be taken from the field on a stretcher, the second such incident this week at the Turf, with former Blackburn full back Callum Davidson coming on as his replacement.
The free kick was around forty yards from the Preston goal so there was no danger for their defence as Graham Alexander took it and passed it just a few yards to Joey Gudjonsson who decided to try his luck and have a shot at goal.
I heard some of the comments around me, and I'm sure they were replicated in all parts of the ground. The general theme was that he shouldn't be shooting from there, it was a pointless exercise and he was just presenting Preston with the ball. You get the idea, although some of the comments did include the odd expletive here and there.
As he let fly I thought it was going to join the away fans behind the goal, but suddenly it dipped, swerved and just about everything else. I'm not sure Lonergan had any chance at all to be honest as it flew into the net. I think the only goal I can compare it with was one Inigo Idiakez scored on the Turf for Derby just over three years ago.
It sent three sides of Turf Moor crazy whilst the fourth side looked strangely subdued apart from the bursting of a few more yellow balloons. They'd had the best view in the cricket field stand of a wonder goal but they didn't seem to either enjoy it or appreciate it.
If the game had been fairly even up to that point then it certainly wasn't after the goal and for the remaining hour of the game we were so much on top. Preston were never seriously at the races again.
Alexander almost added a second but his shot went wide. How good it would have been to see him score against Preston. I'd have loved to have got a penalty and let them be on the receiving end of one from Grezza for a change.
It was all Burnley now and Lonergan did well to keep out a header from the impressive Thompson and then tipped over a vicious bending shot from Wade Elliott. I'm not so sure it was a shot at all, more a cross that went wrong, but it had to be dealt with.
At the half time whistle it was Burnley very much in the ascendancy and that continued after the break. And if Gudjonsson's goal had been special he almost bettered it a few minutes into the second half.
It was Gudjonsson who got to the ball to clear the danger deep in his own half, and that clearance almost found its way into the net at the far end. It went wide but it had beaten Lonergan who had an anxious moment. He'd scored from 40-yards, now he came close to doing it from 70-yards.
Just past the hour the game finally turned our way. Our two central defenders went up for a free kick and they combined to put the Clarets in front. Carlisle got his head to Alexander's free kick and headed it back across for Caldwell to turn it in from close range.
Preston were struggling to stay in the game and it got worse for them when referee Mason's infamous red card showed its face again. Joey broke just over the half way line but was halted by Davidson handling the ball. Had he not done so Joey was through on goal and the red card came straight out.
"Time to go," cried the Burnley fans. And it was for former Blackburn defender Davidson and it was almost the case for the rest of the Preston side. As they collected bookings, we brought on our subs and could have put the game to bed a couple of times.
Preston made some changes. They brought on former Claret Richard Chaplow who was booed by the home crowd. He didn't get into the game at all but apparently he suffered a reaction to his hamstring injury.
With nothing to lose Preston tried to throw the kitchen sink at us in the last few minutes, but we held firm and at no time did they create anything remotely like a chance. The ninety minutes were up and the board showed four extra minutes just as it had done at Swansea a week earlier.
We continued to keep them out and then got the ball out to McCann on the left hand side. I looked at my watch, there were less than ten seconds of that four minutes to go and I relaxed, realising that the game was won as Mason got ready to blow.
But we got the icing on the cake. McCann fed Eagles who went through and scored with some ease to complete the win.
It probably hadn't been quite as good a performance as those that saw us beat Blackpool and Fulham, but Preston are a different proposition. They are a stronger side and certainly don't play as much football as the other two. But it was more than good enough and we really did batter them for long spells and fully deserved the win.
Again there were some very good individual performances all around the pitch, and again it has been a difficult task finding a man of the match. In the end I again went for one of our back four, but this time it was Clarke Carlisle who for me had his best game of the season so far.
It's not been a bad week and a half at the Turf has it? Blackpool lashed, Preston battered and a superb cup win over Woy's Fulham.
The teams were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott (Robbie Blake 80), Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Steven Thompson (Chris Eagles 72), Martin Paterson (Jay Rodriguez 80). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Alan Mahon.
Preston: Andy Lonergan, Billy Jones, Youl Mawene, Sean St. Ledger, Michael Hart (Callum Davidson 32), Barry Nicholson, Darren Carter (Richard Chaplow 69), Paul McKenna, Chris Sedgwick, Neil Mellor, Jon Parkin (Chris Brown 45). Subs not used: Chris Neal, Stephen Elliott.
Yellow Cards: Chris Sedgwick, Darren Carter, Paul McKenna, Barry Nicholson, Neil Mellor.
Red Cards: Callum Davidson.
Referee: Lee Mason (Bolton).
Attendance: 16,276.