Preston North End 1 Sheffield United 1

SHEFFIELD United will fancy their chances of reaching Wembley after Brian Howard’s strike secured a 1-1 draw at Preston in the first leg of their Coca-Cola Championship play-off semi-final.

The Blades midfielder struck just seconds into the second half to cancel out Sean St Ledger’s 21st-minute opener.

A fast and furious encounter produced few genuine scoring opportunities but United would have won had substitute Craig Beattie not spurned two golden opportunities in the second half.

Monday’s decisive second leg at Bramall Lane will not be for the faint-hearted but Kevin Blackwell’s men more than matched their opponents physically and dominated the second period at Deepdale.

Deepdale erupted in the 21st minute when St Ledger grabbed his sixth goal of the season.

The highly-rated centreback, whose winning goal against QPR booked North End’s play-off berth on a dramatic final day of the season, rifled home from close range following a deep free-kick from Billy Jones.

However, the equaliser came within seconds of the restart thanks to Howard’s fine volley from ten yards.

Three players were booked within the space of ten second- half minutes as tensions mounted but Preston were grateful to Lonergan again with five minutes remaining when he parried Howard’s long piledriver before denying Beattie from close range.

■ Aaron Wilbraham’s opportunist strike midway through the first half ensured the MK Dons will go into the second leg of their League One playoff semi-final with Scunthorpe on an even keel.

The robust striker was in the right place at the right time to nod home a loose ball from a corner and claim his 17th goal of the season, cancelling out Martyn Woolford’s opener for the home side.

It was the least the Dons, who finished third in the League One table, deserved for their efforts at Glanford Park. They were the most composed and dangerous side throughout, despite some belated Scunthorpe pressure as the game wore on.

The visitors finished the regular season 11 points clear of the Iron and that was evident for large parts of the tie as they enjoyed the better of the possession and, in wingers Jason Puncheon and Mark Wright, had the brightest performers.

Despite that, Scunthorpe took the lead when Paul Hayes cut in from the left but and after his shot was parried, Woolford did well to bundle the loose ball home.