Emil Riis celebrates with teammates after scoring Preston's opener
Emil Riis grabbed two goals as Preston beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at Deepdale to deliver back-to-back wins for the first time in the Championship this season.
Two close range efforts for the Danish forward either side of a penalty from Sam Greenwood saw the Lilywhites emerge victorious.
Josh Windass had briefly given hope for the visitors equalising Riis' first goal on 29 minutes with a 25-yard strike on the hour.
But Preston proved too strong in an energetic and entertaining game and two further goals condemned Wednesday to only a second defeat in their past nine league outings.
Victory continued a decent uptick in form and results for Paul Heckingbottom's North End who have now won three of their past five games.
The Preston manager made four changes from the side which beat Hull City on Boxing Day and it was one of those, Riis, who delivered the goal which separated the two sides at half-time.
His opener was no thing of beauty, the Preston forward scuffing it in from three yards after a diagonal ball from Alistair McCann was nodded back into the danger zone by Jack Whatmough.
However it was enough to give the hosts belief and the advantage at the break.
They so nearly built on it early in the second half with McCann seeing a shot deflected behind from eight yards after a brilliant drive and cutback by Sam Greenwood and then the latter rattling the crossbar from 20 yards with a superb strike on 56 minutes.
Yet with the game opening up with end-to-end surges, Preston were made to regret those two close calls as Wednesday struck to level matters, Windass firing in a low curling shot from 25 yards.
If Deepdale's nerves were frayed they were soothed almost immediately.
Just five minutes later Greenwood put them back in front from the spot after Dominic Iorfa clumsily upended Josh Bowler just inside the area.
Greenwood was the standout performer in the second half as Preston grew in confidence and continued to look for a third goal.
Wednesday, too, stayed on the front foot going in search of a second that nearly came from Windass again only for the striker to be denied by a brilliant and brave stop from Freddie Woodman in a one-on-one situation.
Much to the delight of the home fans, Preston went back in front 11 minutes from time as leading scorer Riis grabbed his second, and seventh of the season, reacting quickly after Greenwood's shot was parried into his path by James Beadle.
Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I really liked the spirit and the heart we showed, which I thought increased as the game went on so, yeah, I loved that win.
"One thing that Wednesday do well is changing things and we were not aggressive enough in certain areas of the pitch and that was the message at half-time.
"You're always searching for better and looking to improve things up the top end of the pitch.
"We've got a good squad, I can make changes and it doesn't weaken the team - that's a good place to be and we have to use it."
Sheffield Wednesday head coach Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"I think it was an unnecessary defeat. We had moments in the game but when you concede three goals it's not enough.
"Even after we went 2-1 down we had had big chances but that's football. We have to defend better.
"It's always the same players - they do the mistakes and they have to step up. It's about man-marking and look at the ball with the opponent in your view. You can defend as a group and this is what we have to improve.
"In the box, to take something, you have to be better."
