Freddie Woodman the hero as Preston get penalties over quickly against Wycombe

Freddie Woodman was Preston’s penalty shoot-out hero after their FA Cup fourth-round tie with Wycombe ended 0-0 after extra-time.

The 27-year-old saved spot-kicks from Daniel Udoh and former Lilywhite Adam Reach to secure North End’s place in the fifth round.

Ali McCann could have made things less nervy but shanked his penalty over the crossbar before Ched Evans confidently dispatched his effort to wrap up a 4-2 victory on spot-kicks.

It was a second shoot-out success of the season for Preston, following on from their record-breaking 16-15 triumph against Fulham in the EFL Cup.

It was tough to tell which team came from which division as the League One visitors gave a strong account of themselves and new Wycombe boss Mike Dodds will hope it is a sign of things to come as his side battle for a promotion to the Championship.

Dodds gave debuts to Will Norris and Alex Lowry and Paul Heckingbottom also fielded a strong side.

Fred Onyedinma almost opened the scoring for Wycombe after nine minutes but he headed Luke Leahy’s enticing delivery narrowly wide.

Despite starting strongly, the Chairboys should have fallen behind in the 21st minute as Milutin Osmajic latched on to Duane Holmes’ ball over the top but his final finish was blocked by goalkeeper Norris.

It was that partnership again just after the half-hour mark as Osmajic ran on to Holmes’ through ball before forcing Norris into a low save and the Wycombe keeper had Leahy to thank for getting back to turn McCann’s rebound off the line.

Wycombe started the second half strongly and twice almost took the lead as Leahy tested Woodman from outside the box before Garath McCleary ballooned over from 10 yards moments later after being teed up by Beryly Lubala.

The hosts almost shot themselves in the foot after 69 minutes when substitute Kaine Kesler-Hayden fired an unnecessarily awkward pass to Liam Lindsay and the ball broke to Lubala, who fired straight at Woodman.

It was then Wycombe’s time to almost press self-destruct as Norris floated the ball straight to Kesler-Hayden, who lashed his finish wide from outside the box.

But Norris made amends in stoppage time with a super one-handed reach to keep out Sam Greenwood’s speculative effort.

Greenwood had been quiet for the most part but he clipped the post in the final moments of regular time as his delightful cross evaded everybody.