Preston were faced with 4 games in ten days so changes were always going to be made for the League Cup tie at Newscastle, even more so after Grayson had namaed an unchanged eleven for the past two league games.
The team selection did not bode well with some players coming nowhere near the starting eleven foir a league game. Ben Davies is a case in point who has really disappointed over the past 18 months as a Preston player.
It is clear that for Saturday's home fixture the team will resemble more of the team that played Norwich rather than the elevn who turned out away at Newcastle.
Preston were udner the cosh from the start. Thehome side hit the post before Mitrovic headed home the first. The game then turned for the worse when Browne decided to go up for a header with Colback leading with his elbow leading to a sending off.
Preston faced 65 minutes with ten men. If North End wanted to know how far away they were from contending for a place in the top flight they were well and truly grounded last night although playing with 10 men was a hard task.
Newcastle reigned freely with the man advantage but the display clearly showed that several players in the Preston line up last night are more of a hinderance than a help to any sort of ambition Grayson has to push Preston up towards the upper end of the table.
Diame doubled the lead before half time and Ritchie scored from a penalty before the hour mark to make it three. Mitrovic added a fourth and it could have been so much more for the home side.
Diame and Perez then added to late goals with the visitors managing one solitary attempt on target through Huntington. It was a night to forget for Preston who capitulated much like at Brentford last month.
Grayson has taken a gamble that his starting eleven will be fresh for Saturday's home game against Newcastle. It should be a much tougher test for Newcastle but if there is a similar scoreline then Grayson may well have questions to answer.