[themaclad]

Preston North End 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1 Johnson

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.

The ghost of Ray Wilkins returned last night and was again seen wearing a white shirt, the backwards sideways football that we play so badly cost us again. Once the goal had gone in might as well have gone home.
Great support from South Yorkshire on a Friday night, at least they went home happy, whilst the Lowe out mutterings have started again form the home faithful, still awaiting this fast free flowing football, Ryan!!!!

First 20 minutes really open game, Wednesday ensure Millar had six men on him every time he got the ball, which is now going to hapen s he gets noticed more and more. We had a lot of the ball didn't do anything with, Vaulks should have done better with a header early on, actually thought he really should have scored.
We had a few shots from distance high wide and not too handsome and then we go one down.
Question has to be asked where was the defence? Three Wednesday players in acres of space advanced on goal, Johnson did the rest. All Wednesday had to do from then on in was sit deep and watch us pass the ball sideways.
We made it easier for the Owls passing to them on an almost regular basis, McCann was particularly good at this. When we did geet into good positions the final ball into the box was abysmal usually ending up being caught by the keeper.
Second period rinse and repeat, Millar hit the bar, that was the closest we got, we lacked creativity thought this was a perfect game for Frokjaer as he can see a pass, better when he came on but we could have played until next Christmas and we still wouldn't have scored.
Lowe obviously watched a different game to me.
Now onto the official, to be fair to her she started off all right, played a good advantage after Browne was fould by Bannan, however it was a booking and he didn't get one.
Booked Potts for diving after he had been run through with a rusty broadsword, gave a goal kick when everyone else in the ground knew it was a corner. Wasn't actually looking when Frokjaer was taken out going for a return ball. As for the sending off, there was a bit of wrestling between the two but missed the latter bit as watching in vain to see if we did anything with the ball, not sure she was in a position to actually see what happened, but hey equal ops eh!
The liner on the Tom Finney side was also shite.
Wednesday deserved got the game plan right and more importantly scored we didn't, whether it will be enough for them long term is open to debate, they won't come up against this sort of garbage again
Preston boss Ryan Lowe:

"It's a massively frustrating night. There was certainly no lack of effort and determination from my lads, and the commitment was definitely there.

"We just didn't quite do enough in the final third and didn't get people in the right areas enough. We didn't put quality balls into the right areas, and that's cost us in the end.

"It's about us bouncing back now. We had good moments, but we've just not found the finish."

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"It was a tough, tough game. We expected exactly this game. There was a lot of crosses and that was a big topic for us in the last few days.

"We did well as a team. It was a great performance, not in ball possession but we spoke that we had to fight and win the duels. We defended well and did all the things we had to do. We should be proud of our team.

"You could see the spirit. And having 5,000 supporters here was massive. It shows how close the team and fans are. It's great to have that support."