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 10-man Sunderland.

Roy Keane's men were the better of the Coca-Cola 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.

The visitors had the better of a bright opening to the game and two minutes in, a sweeping move found Stephen Elliott, only for the Sunderland right winger to rifle wide of the near post.

The Black Cats were continuing to enjoy all the meaningful attacks and Daryl Murphy and Miller had shots deflected wide and saved respectively.

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, Ormerod 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.

Despite David Connolly being isolated up front, the visitors committed bodies forward after the break.

But 10 minutes into the second period, Matt Hill almost doubled the lead with a glancing header from McKenna's corner.

Sunderland's new signing Carlos Edwards came off the bench and immediately looked a threat.

With 18 minutes left, Ward made a fine one-handed stop from a thumping Nugent effort and shortly after Ormerod was again wasteful at the far post from a Graham Alexander cross.

Connolly finally got a shot in, cutting in-field past Alexander and forcing a low stop from Nash.

With just over 10 minutes left, Kelvin Wilson blocked Ross Wallace at full stretch and substitute Simon Whaley fired narrowly wide at the other end.

Connolly had a close-range strike deflected wide with four minutes left but Preston closed the game out.

Teams:

Preston Nash, Alexander, Chilvers, Wilson, Hill (Whaley 56),Sedgwick (Lewis Neal 72), McKenna, Davidson, Pugh,Ormerod (Anyinsah 79), Nugent.

Subs Not Used: Lonergan, McGrail.

Booked: Pugh, Nugent.

Goals: Ormerod 31.

Sunderland Ward, Whitehead, Varga, Evans, Wallace, Elliott,Leadbitter (Collins 77), Miller, Hysen (Yorke 39), Connolly,Murphy (Edwards 61).

Subs Not Used: Clarke, Fulop.

Sent Off: Miller (37).

Booked: Miller, Varga.

Att: 10,318

Ref: I Williamson (Berkshire).