Moses Odubajo will not be ‘thrown under a bus’ says Sheffield Wednesday chief

However, Bullen was keen to stress after the 2-1 defeat at Deepdale: “Ultimately, two mistakes cost us, but we don’t throw anyone under the bus.

“There is a kid in the changing room who is really disappointed, but we get round him and back him up.

“As I said to the players in the dressing room, one thing we don’t do as a team is throw anybody under the bus or leave anyone hung out to dry.

“He is a good player and has played in the Premier League. He had an off day.

“It’s about supporting the kid and that’s what good teams do. There was nothing in the game except for the two penalties and we were fantastic for the last 15 minutes.

“We had a go, I’ve always said we’ll have a go no matter what and the lads deserve a lot of credit for having a go.”

Alex Neil praised his Preston players for winning despite having their “backs against the wall”.

Daniel Johnson scored twice from the penalty spot to help move Preston into the top six and record back-to-back victories after their midweek win over Stoke.

Neil said: “The players deserve a hell of a lot of credit because we deserved to win.

“We have played in different ways in the last two games and won both. First half we were definitely better and we needed the first goal because Wednesday were stubborn and sat behind the ball. Thankfully, we had the penalty to break the deadlock.”

There was not much in the way of chances in the first half, with the Owls, who had netted six goals in their previous four games, mustering just two efforts and neither were on target.

Preston were not that much more efficient, hitting the target twice in the first half from two efforts, despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession.

They took the lead in the 32nd minute when striker Sean Maguire was brought down in the area by right-back Odubajo.

Referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot, with Johnson hitting the ball under Keiren Westwood, although the Wednesday goalkeeper got a hand to it.

Preston made it 2-0 in the 65th minute after Odubajo fouled Maguire and Johnson stepped up to score his second penalty.

Wednesday pulled one back in the 78th minute when Adam Reach’s cross was headed home by Steven Fletcher.

Preston North End: Rudd, Fisher, Bauer (Storey 62), Davies, Rafferty, Pearson, Browne, Bodin (Barkhuizen 58), Johnson (Gallagher 85), Maguire, Stockley. Unused substitutes: Harrop, Green, Ripley, Potts.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Odubajo (Reach 66), Lees, Borner, Fox, Lee (Nuhiu 72), Hutchinson, Bannan, Murphy (Forestieri 46), Fletcher, Harris. Unused substitutes: Rhodes, Luongo, Dawson, Iorfa.

Referee: R Jones (Merseyside).