Preston North End ended 2023 with defeat on home soil, as Sheffield Wednesday left Deepdale with a 1-0 win.
The Owls scored the only goal of the game in the 27th minute as Marvin Johnson bore down on goal and managed to find the bottom corner.
PNE saw plenty of the ball as they looked to draw level and came so close to doing so in the second half when a brilliant strike from Liam Millar rattled the bar, but the equaliser didn’t arrive as the visitors – down to ten men in the final stages – held on to a clean sheet.
Ryan Lowe named an unchanged starting XI from the Boxing Day victory over Leeds United, while Emil Riis was included in a matchday squad for the first time since 2nd January when he picked up an ACL injury.
Prior to kick-off, everyone inside Deepdale observed a minute’s silence as the club paid tribute to all those connected with PNE who have sadly passed away during 2023.
The action then got underway inside a raucous Deepdale and PNE started brightly, with captain Alan Browne firing an early effort over the bar from 25 yards, after a clever flick from Duane Holmes.
At the other end, the visitors had a better chance through Will Vaulks, who couldn’t find the target with a ten-yard header in the fourth minute, on the end of a good ball in from Djeidi Gassama.
Milutin Osmajić was next to try his luck – albeit from an offside position – as he took the ball down well from Andrew Hughes before lobbing his effort onto the roof of the net, and Duane Holmes curled a shot wide shortly after.
The deadlock was soon broken, but by the visitors, as Bailey Cadamarteri sent Johnson on his way, and the left back snuck his effort inside Freddie Woodman’s near post.
There wasn’t much in the way of chances for either side before the break, with Andrew Hughes’ dragged effort wide in added-time as good as it got for PNE, while Woodman was required to keep out Michael Ihiekwe’s header.
Five minutes into the second half, Millar so nearly recreated his spectacular Boxing Day goal, but this time his curling effort struck the bar. The ball bounced back out to Potts who couldn’t quite make a meaningful connection as he appeared to be dragged to the floor by Johnson, however the appeals were waved away.
Although seeing plenty of the ball, North End were being frustrated by their visitors from Yorkshire, and nearly got caught out against the run of play just after the hour mark, but Johnson’s low ball right across the face of goal somehow evaded everyone.
With just more than 15 minutes left on the clock, the ball fell to substitute Mads Frøkjær in a promising area and he saw his first-time effort well blocked by Liam Palmer.
The Dane then came so close again a few minutes later from the edge of the area, but his low strike whistled a couple of inches the wrong side of the post.
Wednesday were down to ten men in the 85th minute when George Byers was punished for an off-the-ball incident with Mads Frøkjær, and the noise inside Deepdale cranked right up as the Town End tried to suck the ball into the back of the net.
Former Sheffield United man Ched Evans and man of the match Brad Potts were both thwarted late on by Cameron Dawson, and the Owls left with three points.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Potts, Whatmough (Storey, 57), Lindsay, Hughes; McCann (Frøkjær, 68), Holmes (Evans, 57), Browne, Whiteman, Millar; Osmajić (Riis, 75). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Ledson, Woodburn, Best.
Sheffield Wednesday line-up: Dawson; Bernard, Ihiekwe, Famewo (Palmer, 35), Johnson; Valentín, Vaulks (Byers, 39), Bannan (Fletcher, 66); Musaba, Cadamarteri (Windass, 66), Gassama (Bakinson, 66). Subs not used: Vásquez, Siqueira, James, Phuthi.
Attendance: 19,763 (5,341 Sheffield Wednesday fans).
Referee: Miss R Welch.