First real chance of the game went Preston North End's way on six minutes and it came from a poor cross field ball from former PNE loanee Rob Kozluk, his pass went straight to Nowland and he sprinted towards goal before playing a clever ball into the path of Nugent and his first time shot was hit low but straight at Paddy Kenny.

Two chances at both ends of the field followed a couple of minutes later when first the Blades won a disputed corner, nothing came of it and as the ball was cleared Nowland set Nugent clear with another good ball, Nugent won a free-kick on the edge of the Blades box and Graham Alexander whipped in a great ball that Claude Davis got most of his head to but his glancing header was just inches wide.

Nugent won another free-kick in a similar area of the field when he was wrestled to the ground by David Unsworth, the free-kick went to the back post again where Davis was lurking but it was cleared for a corner. From the corner the ball fell to the edge of the box where Tyrone Mears' shot looked goal bound, it was well blocked but Mears followed up and as he looked to dance into the area he was sent flying and though it looked like a penalty the ref only gave a free-kick.

From that free-kick on 15 minutes North End got another shot on goal, Nowland dummied to take it but it was Jones who hit a swinging shot that Kenny grabbed at the second attempt.

David Nugent then picked up a ridiculous booking, a yellow card for stopping the keeper taking a quick kick. The second time this season that the referee had booked Nugent on the TV.

Matty Hill set up a great chance with a superb tackle on Rob Kozluk in the 20th minute, the Blades defender was caught with the ball midway into his own half, Nugent picked up the loose ball and let rip with a left-footed effort that sliced wide of the goal.

The game fizzled out a little midway through the first half and there was very little to report but for a counter-attack from Sheffield United on 42 minutes which finished with Danny Webber's shot that was tame from just outside the box and Carlo Nash saved easily.

That seemed to spark the game into life again as North End's Alexander launched a long ball deep from his own half and Dichio played superb flick-on into the path of Tyrone Mears who took the ball down with his right foot but as the ball ran away from him the angle narrowed but it still took a good save from Paddy Kenny to deny Preston the goal.

The second half started brightly for the Lilywhites when Adam Nowland picked up the ball just inside his own half and set off on a slalom like run that looked to have fizzled out at least twice but his perseverance took him all the way into the box and almost forced a corner.

Sheffield United missed one of the best chances of the game in the 57th minute, Webber got the wrong side of the North End defence in the box, but Mawene managed to get half a clearance away but it fell straight into the path of Alan Quinn who took a first time volley right in front of goal almost on the penalty spot but he blazed it over the bar.

On 64 minutes North End looked to have created a good opportunity, it came when Danny Dichio won a free-kick just over the half-way line. David Jones played the ball deep into the box and Youl Mawene got there just a fraction of a second ahead of the keeper, the ball went into the air but the referee adjudged that there was an earlier infringement.

Chris Armstrong was the second man in the book when momentum took him into a collision with Youl Mawene on 68 minutes.

Minutes later Preston North End sparked into life, firstly Chris Sedgwick had half a shout for a penalty when Craig Short put his arm on him in the box and then seconds later Sedgwick again found space in the box, he drilled a low ball across the face of goal and Paddy Kenny spilled it but it went behind for a corner.

It was a good spell of pressure for the Lilywhites and they almost created another chance when Hill whipped a ball in deep from the left and Nugent just couldn't get a touch on it as the keeper came out to punch.

The first change of the evening came on 73 minutes when Chris Sedgwick was replaced by Lewis Neal and that meant that Tyrone Mears swapped wings and moved to the right.

Nugent got another sighter at goal in the 77th minute, Lewis Neal made a nuisance of himself trying to get on the end of a Alexander cross and the ball fell to Dichio who teed up Nugent just on the edge of the D but his shot flew high and wide.

That Nugent effort must have inspired something in Lewis Neal because he tried a shot of his own one minute later when he picked the ball up midway into the Blades half, took a few touches to turn and hit a low effort that had Kenny scurrying across goal but which was ultimately a yard or so wide.

All the chances were going North End's way and with 10 minutes left on the clock Danny Dichio did well to get his head onto an Alexander cross, the ball spun wide though as he tried to glance it in.

North End had another great chance in the 83rd minute, when Grezza picked out Dichio with a wicked cross, Dichio poked a long leg out at the ball and squared it into space which Tyrone Mears quickly filled, six yards out with the goal at his mercy, he blasted it over the bar. Mercifully for Mears the referee had spotted an infringement and spared Tye's blushes.

Phil Jagielka caused a bit of a commotion in the North End area with just one minute left on the clock, he felt that he deserved a penalty as he went tumbling but to be fair it looked like he had handballed it to take it into space in the first place.