Sheffield Wednesday’s winless run continues with defeat at Preston
Owls lost 3-0 at Deepdale after a competitive first-half display
Last updated 2nd Jan 2026
Sheffield Wednesday’s struggles continued as they lost 3-0 away to Preston North End at Deepdale, extending their winless run to 18 matches.
Preston’s Ali McCann opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a composed finish, and Milutin Osmajic doubled the lead in the second half with a powerful strike. Lewis Dobbin added a late third to seal the win for the hosts, who now sit sixth in the table and remain in the play-off hunt.
Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom praised Osmajic’s finish: “He knows where the goal is. He’s not always the best option, sometimes a bit of guile is the right way to go, but a lot of the goals he scores are that type of finish. It’s instinctive. He knows where the goal is and when he hits it, it stays hit.”
Despite the scoreline, Wednesday showed moments of promise during the match. Thousands of travelling Owls fans remained vocal throughout, supporting their team even in the face of defeat.
Speaking after the game, Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen reflected on his side’s performance:
“The performance up until the first goal was really good. Defensively we were well-organised, offensively we had a good balance to play in, to play around, to play in behind, to run a little bit.
“After the first goal, it was important to get the rhythm back before half-time and it was still an equal game. In the second half, we were really getting into the game and then we conceded the second goal in transition.
“There was a lot of energy and belief until the second goal, but it’s tough to be 2-0 down to then bring the game back again. We didn’t have the energy to create big chances. We had the ball a lot but didn’t create enough, and this is what we’re working on.”
The defeat leaves Wednesday at the bottom of the Championship table with minus-seven points, following off-the-pitch challenges affecting their season.
Preston manager Heckingbottom gave credit to the Owls: “I’ve seen so much of Wednesday this season for lots of different reasons and they’ve been dangerous in every game, regardless of result, particularly in the first 30 minutes when they have a real go. They can cause carnage.
“But I felt today, at no point did we give them any hope or any opportunities to get that foothold in the game and become dangerous so I thought it was a really strong performance.”