Wednesday moved back into the play-offs with a 2-1 win over Preston after a dramatic afternoon – including three red cards – at Hillsborough.
Fernando Forestieri put us ahead with a clever header on nine minutes but, after an aggressive start, we allowed Preston to gain a foothold back into the match.
And our cause wasn’t helped when we lost both Ross Wallace and Glenn Loovens through injury in the first half.
Sub Will Buckley missed two excellent chances just before half time and Wednesday faced more problems after the break when Forestieri was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident involving Ben Pearson.
However, the ten men went two-up when Buckley was fouled by Preston keeper Chris Maxwell as he burst through and sub Steven Fletcher fired home from the penalty spot with 11 minutes left.
The drama continued with Preston sub Eoin Doyle putting them back in the game almost immediately, with Wednesday temporarily down to nine men at the time as Buckley was still receiving treatment for a shoulder injury sustained in the penalty incident,
Then, with the visitors pressing for an equaliser in the closing minutes, Doyle and team-mate Jermaine Beckford were both shown red cards as they squared up and began fighting each other.
This left the ten men of Wednesday to successfully see out the win over nine-man Preston and so take us into fifth place, for a few hours at least, because with Leeds beating Aston Villa 2-0 in the evening game, they now go back above us, leaving Wednesday in sixth place.