Preston 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1: Marvin Johnson strike delights Danny Rohl and travelling Owls army

The Owls, who remain rooted in the Championship drop zone, were forced to defend for their lives in the second half.

They were reduced to 10 men when George Byers saw red late on but Wednesday held on to seal a potentially precious fourth victory in seven matches.

“It was a really tough game for us, but I expected that exactly,” Wednesday manager Rohl said.

“A big topic in our chat before the game was the importance of defending – we knew we’d have to do a lot of that tonight.

“Our defending in and around our box was brilliant. We’ve put in a great performance and done really well to get a big three points.

“The performance was not the best at times, mainly due to some poor positioning I suppose, but the players really fought all night and that was fantastic to see.”

Wednesday were backed by over 5,000 fans who filled an end at Deepdale and were not dampened by the driving rain.

Rohl added: “This was massive for the fans too. I think there were more than 5,000 of them here tonight, and I enjoyed celebrating with them at the end.

“I think they all recognise exactly what we are trying to do now – they can all see how close we are.

“Maybe we were a little bit lucky to get all three points in the end, but again we showed lots of that fighting spirit and we did what we had to do.”

In the difficult conditions, both sides began purposefully. Preston skipper Alan Browne went close with a thumping drive, while Wednesday replied with Will Vaulks heading inches over as he darted in to meet Djeidi Gassama’s cross.

It was Preston who were doing most of the early running, however, and they went mighty close again midway through the first half.

Browne worked the ball tidily out to Duane Holmes, and he turned inside before drilling an angled effort just over the crossbar.

The Owls saw Vaulks’ free-kick comfortably saved by Freddie Woodman, before they went on to take the lead shortly before the half-hour mark.

Johnson coolly slotted past Woodman after racing on to Bailey Cadamarteri’s precise through-ball.

Ryan Lowe’s Preston had seen much more of the ball in the first period, but it was Wednesday who went into the break with their lead comfortably intact.

Preston’s match-winner against Leeds on Tuesday, Liam Millar, made an explosive start to the second period.

The Canada winger was full of tricks before firing an angled strike at Owls keeper Cameron Dawson.

Minutes later Millar took advantage of a perfectly-executed one-two with Ali McCann before curling a fine strike against the crossbar.

It appeared boss Lowe had offered stern words to his Preston charges at the interval as they were well on top during the run-up to the hour mark.

On one of Wednesday’s rare breaks they went close when Gassama just could not stretch enough to meet a terrific cross from Johnson.

North End kept up their forward momentum and were probing for a much-needed opening.

However, they were nearly caught out again at the back when Owls’ substitute Byers almost lashed home a potential victory-clinching second with 20 minutes left.

A sense of desperation was beginning to creep in among the Preston faithful in the closing stages, and that was not helped by Browne skying a disappointing effort as he met Brad Potts’ smart cross.

Substitute Mads Frokjaer-Jensen whistled a low strike inches off target as the hosts kept pressing, before the Danish midfielder was hacked down by Byers late on, earning the Wednesday man a straight red card.

However, Danny Rohl’s side hung on, to the delight of their delirious gathering of travelling fans who roared ‘we are staying up’ at the final whistle.