Penalty hero David James admitted Portsmouth were fortunate to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Preston at Deepdale.Preston dominated the second half and missed the best opportunity of the game when England keeper James saved Simon Whaley's spot-kick after Sylvain Distin fouled Billy Jones.

Pompey then stole victory in the third minute of injury time when Darren Carter fired into his own net after Niko Kranjcar's corner caused panic in the Preston box.

James said: "I thought we'd be lucky to get an opportunity to have another game but the cup's about winning and however you do it, last minute, that's what counts."

James produced a number of inspired stops, including a flying save to deny Neil Mellor.

"It was nice," he told Sky Sports. "It was instinctive. I know Neil a little bit from Liverpool days, I wasn't trying to second guess him but it was good.

"The game was tough. They had possibly been the better side, but saying that their keeper's made some great saves himself so it's not like we were completely out of it."

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