IT isn't often North End can boast being in a tournament longer than Manchester United, and for the first 45 minutes at Deepdale, it looked as though the Lilywhites were going to throw this chance away too.
Despite working hard and battling for everything that moved in the first half, North End lacked shape and bite in the final third of the pitch throughout the 45.
It came as no surprise - indeed,having watching North End all season, when is it? - when Sheffield United, who have not won at Deepdale since 1955, took the lead on 14minutes.
After all, North End had been the better side in the opening minutes. Steve Basham had fired just wide from30 yards when keeper Wilk de Vogt miskicked a headed back pass.
A long throw from Gus Uhlenbeek was headed on Sean Gregan into the path of Peter Ndlovu, who, finding himself unmarked at the far post, half-volleyed a shot into the top of the net.
In fairness to North End, they had been forced to reshuffle their pack early on after Colin Murdoch began limping following his first kick of the game.
On came Lee Cartwright, forcing Gregan back into a defensive role which left North End with no-one commanding the midfield.
Cartwright and youngster Michael Keane drifted into the centre of midfield,with Iain Anderson and Eric Skora remaining on the wings.
With 24 minutes gone, Frenchman Eric Skora became the second player to hobble off the pitch, forcing North End to bring on Jon Macken as David Healy seemed to drop back.
The change understandably unsettled North End, and they could have been two or three down by half time as Michael Tonge ran the defence ragged.
He fired a 25-yard shot just wide and was then felled inside the box by Gregan - only for an indirect free kick to be awarded.
As is custom for North End these days, whatwever manager David Moyes said at half-time worked - or perhaps it was the arrival of Richard Cresswell, on for Steve Basham, at the start of the second, which made the difference.
Jon Macken picked up keeper Tepi Moilanen's long-ball, and flicked it on to Cresswell -already disliked by the United fans for his previous career at Sheffield Wednesday.
Cresswell ran onto the ball,hitting a low shot which brought North End back into the game.
From then on, apart from the odd counter-attack,there was no doubting which team was on top.
North End comfortably controlled the efforts of United, which good blocks from both Alexander and Keane - the latter of who should have bagged a second when he was given a free header in front of goal.
Jon Macken then had a string of chances, all of which went either wide or over the goal. His best was a self-made one, picking the ball up as it came out of a goal mouth scramble in front of Tepi and then beating two defenders having run pretty much the length of the field.
But it was Cresswell who helped ensure North End's passage into the next round for the second time in three seasons, or third time in 20, whichever you prefer.
Cresswell went for goal but his shot was blocked by the arm of Robert Page. The ref pointed to the spot and Alexander wrong-footed the keeper with his right-hand shot.
It was a victory they deserved, even if the first half play wasn't as fashionable as fans have come to expect.
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