Preston North End 1-1 Sheffield United

Diego De Girolamo scored his first goal for Sheffield United as last season's FA Cup semi-finalists earned a fourth-round replay with Preston.

Italy under-20 international De Girolamo fired home left-footed from eight yards on 68 minutes after a neat cutback from substitute Jamie Murphy.

North End had earlier taken the lead through Paul Gallagher, when he fired home a brilliant 30-yard free-kick.

Gallagher had scored twice to help defeat Norwich in the last round.

After going ahead on 19 minutes, Preston had a great chance to double their advantage.

Kyel Reid's cross from the left picked out Neil Kilkenny, but from six yards out he opted to knock the ball across goal rather than shoot.

United, who face Tottenham in the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday, almost levelled after 53 minutes but De Girolamo saw his effort cleared off the line by Calum Woods.

But Nigel Clough's side earned a replay when the striker netted shortly afterwards.

Preston boss Simon Grayson:

"It was a typical cup tie, end-to-end with both teams trying to win it. It does mean another game but both teams will be happy to be in the hat for the next round on Monday.

"Winning matches breeds confidence. I think if you ask players, they will not mind playing Saturday-Tuesday."

Sheffield United boss Nigel Clough:

"It is about building momentum. We believe success in all competitions goes hand-in-hand. We don't like losing, we fight and scrap and we deserved our goal today.

"It is another midweek we have filled with the replay in the League Cup, we came here today, we did not want to get knocked out."