Liam Palmer scores his first goal in a decade as Sheffield Wednesday see out a vital win against Preston

One of the most unlikely goal scorers on the pitch today popped up when it mattered most for Neil Thompson’s side, full-back Liam Palmer buried his close-range strike on the cusp of half-time with the goal earning the Owls all three points.

In a match fuelled with blissful counter-attacks, Alex Neil’s Preston failed to capitalise on the relegation-threatened Owls. With a number of chances driven by Scott Sinclair and his team, the Lilywhites would go on to rue taking a step back from the Play-Off pack.

Despite a number of creative and attacking subs for North End with the likes of Daniel Johnson and Tom Barkhuizen coming on in an attempt to claw back a point, it was an unsuccessful afternoon in South Yorkshire.

Another player that has aged like a fine wine is Barry Bannan, the former Aston Villa midfielder played yet another thrilling match for the Owls. Creating a flurry of opportunities whilst continuously linking up with Adam Reach.

One of Bannan’s most notable moments of the game came through playing a one-two pass with Callum Patterson then unleashing a ball forwards but a Blue and White shirt failed to get on the end of Bannan’s ball.

Although the scoreline went in favour of the hosts, Preston enjoyed plenty of possession whilst knocking the ball around Hillsborough in a fashionable manner, the high-pressing Lilywhites will have to take the positives from their unfortunate loss.

The local boy from Worksop who had began his career at Wednesday was the man to shift the Owls four points from safety, Palmer, an academy graduate has played a number of excellent games in recent weeks and the 29-year-old thoroughly deserved his goal.

The Owls’ all-important goal came from a long throw via Patterson which went towards the far post as the full-back smashed the ball past Daniel Iversen.

The goalscorer on post-match media duties ⚽️

“I’ve scored at both ends now at Hillsborough, the last one was at the other end when I was a lot younger, so I can tick that off now! I’m happy to come up with the goal but today was about a team performance”#SHWPNE pic.twitter.com/QEuYAJk4BJ

— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) January 30, 2021

Sheffield Wednesday now face the tricky task of promotion chasers, Bournemouth. The Cherries currently sit in sixth place and eight points from the automatic promotion places, yet another difficult match for Thompson’s men but points don’t just come from thin air as much as they’d wish.

Meanwhile the Lilywhites host Rotherham United at Deepdale in an attempt to bounce back from their below-par form of three losses in five.

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