BRETT ORMEROD scored the only goal of the game as Preston booked a place in the FA Cup fourth round with a scrappy win over 10man Sunderland. Roy Keane's men were the better of the Championship rivals for most of the opening period but Ormerod grabbed his fifth of the season in the 31st minute.

Shortly after, Liam Miller was shown a second yellow card in the space of seven minutes to leave the Black Cats with a huge mountain to climb at the interval. Sunderland refused to be beaten but for all their toil, they never looked like creating a chance that would get them back in the game and failed to really test North End goalkeeper Carlo Nash all afternoon.

In the final 20 minutes, North End began to dictate . . .

keeping possession for long periods. And although Ormerod went close again they were content to coast through the rest of the game.

Ormerod should have given the hosts the lead midway through the first half, scooping wide of Darren Ward's goal after being played through by Paul McKenna. However, the striker showed resilience to take a similar chance just after the half hour as the visitors' attempt at an offside trap failed miserably. Callum Davidson clipped the ball past the Black Cats rearguard, Ormerod's touch took him past Ward and his curling shot had too much on it for debutant Jonny Evans on the line.

The Black Cats' task was made far harder in the 37th minute when Carlo Nash's long throw put David Nugent into bags of space. As he headed goalwards, the England under-21 international's run was checked by Miller, who was shown a second yellow card. Ormerod could have added a second shortly after but his close-range stab was blocked by Ward.

David Connolly, who was isolated for much of the game got more support as the clock ticked by and even had a close-range strike deflected wide with four minutes left but Preston closed the game out.