PNE will host Wycombe Wanderers in round four of the FA Cup

Sunday evening's round four draw may not have sparked all that much excitement among the watching North End faithful. But Paul Heckingbottom's side - after seeing Saturday's clash postponed due to a frozen pitch - knew their route to round five of the FA Cup; it could undoubtedly have been tougher. But, it was of course one game at a time and Charlton Athletic - under a fierce competitor in Nathan Jones - were never going to roll over.

In fact, the Addicks were more than a match for North End in the first half and - despite Preston having a few moments - will have felt aggrieved to fall behind on 32 minutes. Charlton's play in their own third had been loose on a couple of occasions though and this time Milutin Osmajic pounced on a weak Alex Mitchell pass back to goalkeeper Will Mannion. The Montenegrin intercepted, rounded the shot-stopper and slotted into the empty net.

Jones' response to that opener was to hurl his water bottle several yards down the touchline; understandable frustration given the way his team had played up until that point. The Welshman was punching the air five minutes before the break though, with the source of Charlton's equaliser no surprise to anyone inside the stadium. Tyreece Campbell and Thierry Small had caused plenty of problems out wide and it was the latter's low cross which an unmarked Luke Berry tucked home first time, from 12 yards.

The tie firmly hung in the balance at the break with Josh Bowler having volleyed over for Preston just before half-time - while Ben Whiteman had to block Gassan Ahadme's goal-bound header. North End made the perfect start to a potential banana skin second 45 though. When an opportunity falls to Osmajic it often goes in and he crashed home a clinical, first time volley from Whiteman's corner into a dangerous area.

Just moments after the Montenegrin then raced through but could only slam his shot into the side-netting - not quite able to tick off a third hat-trick in Preston colours. Heckingbottom's men had further openings and opportunities to kill the game but Charlton kept themselves in the game and never really went away. It took a wonderful Woodman save - to keep out Chuks Aneke's bullet header five minutes from the end - to ensure PNE progressed into round four, where they will host Wycombe Wanderers.

Attendance: 7,734 (716 away) PNE starting XI: Woodman; Storey, Gibson, Hughes, Bowler (Kesler-Hayden 60'), Whiteman (c), Thordarson (McCann 60'), Holmes (Lindsay 81'), Frokjaer (Greenwood 60'), Keane (Riis 77'), Osmajic. PNE unused subs: Cornell, Whatmough, Ledson, Evans.