James saves the day for Portsmouth

FA CUP/Preston 0 Portsmouth 1: David James continued his outstanding form with a second-half penalty save before Preston midfielder Darren Carter scored an injury-time own-goal to fortuitously guide Portsmouth into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

North End lie fourth bottom in the Championship but they belied their lowly status with a vibrant display and the award of a 60th-minute spot-kick put them on course for a famous victory.

But James flung his 6ft 5in frame to his right to deny Preston midfielder Simon Whaley from 12 yards - and Carter compounded the misery of home fans when he bundled the ball into his own net late on.

James excelled throughout and fine second-half saves from Chris Brown and substitute Neil Mellor further enhanced his claims to remain as England's number-one goalkeeper for the foreseeable future.

The 37-year-old, restored in a Three Lions shirt by Fabio Capello, has fixed his sights on being England's number one goalkeeper at the next World Cup.

He will be pushing 40 when the finals in South Africa come around in 2010, but he has rarely enjoyed better form than at present.

James's heroics and Carter's late intervention prevented Harry Redknapp's men joining the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal in being bundled out of the competition.

Preston's big chance came when Distin clumsily felled Billy Jones as he sought to break clear after collecting Whaley's pass.

Whaley stepped up from 12 yards but James dived to his right and the visiting defence reacted quickly to cleared the danger from the rebound.

James continued to excel - reacting superbly to get a hand to Brown's long-range strike before doing likewise to repel a 20-yard piledriver from Mellor.

The home side continued to pile on the pressure but Pompey stole victory when Kranjcar's late corner ended up in the net via the unfortunate Carter.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times