Preston continued their strong start to the season as they claimed a narrow 1-0 Championship victory over lowly Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon.
Liam Lindsay’s header early in the second half was enough to give the Lilywhites their second win of the campaign, with Wednesday tasting defeat in all three of their league games so far.
Wednesday boss Xisco Munoz made four changes to the team that lost 4-2 at Hull, with Liam Palmer, George Byers, Momo Diaby and Anthony Musaba joining the starting XI.
Preston manager Ryan Lowe made just the one switch from the 2-1 win at home to Sunderland, with Duane Holmes coming in for Ali McCann.
The away side had the first chance of the game within 10 minutes when Brad Potts met Kian Best’s pinpoint cross with a controlled volley and Devis Vasquez did well to get down to his right to tip the ball round the post.
Wednesday’s first sight at goal was after Musaba’s run from the right but Juan Delgado could not quite make a telling touch. Lee Gregory then fired his shot from the edge of the box straight at goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
Will Keane nearly found himself on the scoresheet once more for Preston but his close-range effort went wide of goal in the last chance of the half.
It was the perfect start to the second period for North End as they took the lead after 49 minutes.
Best whipped in a brilliant free-kick from the left and there was nothing Vasquez could do about Lindsay’s bullet diving header.
The Lilywhites remained the better of the two sides after the opener as skipper Alan Browne saw his free-kick deflected just wide of goal.
Arguably Wednesday’s best chance of the second half came as Delgado’s header was saved comfortably, following Akin Famewo’s cross from the left.
The home side brought on forwards Michael Smith, Callum Paterson and Ashley Fletcher in an attempt to bolster their attacking threat.
Djeidi Gassama also came on to make his Owls debut after being signed from Paris St Germain earlier in the week.
However, Preston were completely untroubled by Wednesday in the remaining minutes and saw the game out comfortably to claim all three points.
The victory sees North End rise to fifth but the result sees Wednesday sit at the bottom of the table as the only club in the Championship yet to pick up a point this season.