A home tie against Manchester United was the enormous reward for Preston North End as they ended a winless run of seven matches to beat fellow League One promotion hopefuls 3-1 in a replay full of twists at Bramall Lane.
Nigel Clough's Blades had been crowned unofficial cup kings of the lower divisions after reaching the last four of this competition in 2014 and securing a series of wins against Premier League opposition to reach the semi-finals of this year's League Cup.
Sheffield United 1-3
Preston North End
FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
Bramall Lane
Tuesday 3 February 2015
Winners receive £90,000
But after taking the lead through Jamie Murphy in Tuesday night's Fourth Round replay, they were undone by three Preston goals in ten second-half minutes.
Preston had started well and were slightly unfortunate to trail at half-time to Murphy's 38th-minute effort, which came from a low shot under the body of keeper Thorsten Stuckmann.
But the tie turned upside-down after the break when on loan Leicester forward Paul Gallagher equalised in the 63rd minute.
Jamie Murphy puts Sheffield United ahead
He had scored a great free-kick when the sides drew 1-1 ten days ago and did it again to level this match from another set-piece.
Preston then took the lead just six minutes later as central defender Paul Huntington scored his second goal in two games by heading in a Scott Laird corner.
And it was that man Gallagher again who put the tie to bed when he scored from the penalty spot after Chris Humphrey had been fouled.
Paul Huntingdon scores Preston's second goal
Sheffield United: 1 Mark Howard; 3 Bob Harris, 6 Chris Basham, 7 Ryan Flynn, 8 Michael Doyle, 9 Jamie Murphy, 10 Stefan Scougall, 11 Jose Baxter, 12 Marc McNulty, 19 Jay McEveley, 20 Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
Substitutes: 22 Louis Reed for Scougall 64, 23 Diego De Girolamo for Doyle 80.
Subs not used: 2 Craig Alcock, 16 Ben Davies, 24 Iain Turner, 27 Terry Kennedy, 34 Florent Cuvelier.
Goal: Murphy 38
Preston North End: 21 Thorsten Stuckmann; 15 Calum Woods, 5 Tom Clarke, 23 Paul Huntington, 8 Neil Kilkenny, 3 Scott Laird, 4 Scott Wiseman, Chris Humphrey, 9 Ben Davies, 12 Paul Gallagher, 30 Josh Brownhill.
Substitutes: 17 Kyel Reid for Humphrey 83; 19 John Welsh for Laird 88; 14 Joe Garner for Davies 88.
Subs not used: 14 Bailey Wright, 31 Alan Browne, 35 Matthew Hudson, 40 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake
Goals: Gallagher 63, 73pen; Huntingdon 69.
Referee: Lee Probert
Attendance: 13,161.
Watch highlights of the Fourth Round replay at Bramall Lane
