Milutin Osmajic scored on his return from a nine-game ban as Preston North End beat the Championship's bottom side Sheffield Wednesday to end a four-game winless run at Deepdale.

Osmajic, who was handed the suspension in November after being charged with racially abusing Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, fired into the top corner to double Preston's lead in the second half.

Ali McCann had coolly slotted in his first goal of the season before the break and substitute Lewis Dobbin capped a comfortable win with a third late on.

Following three successive 1-1 draws at Deepdale and a defeat at Wrexham on Monday, Paul Heckingbottom's side climb back into the play-off places.

Such is the inconsistency of most of the sides at the top of the table, the Lilywhites are just four points off second-placed Ipswich despite drawing 10 games this season.

If Preston are to have genuine ambitions of making a promotion push, January is likely to be a pivotal month.

They visit eighth-placed Bristol City on Sunday and also face top-five sides Hull City, Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town over the next few weeks.

But with Montenegro striker Osmajic now back in the side they will be hopeful of turning more of those draws into victories.

Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday, who are still waiting for confirmation of a takeover, remain 32 points from the safety line and are already preparing for life in League One.

Their only league victory of the campaign came in September and their winless run now stretches to 18 matches.

Preston were good value for their victory and could have won by a bigger margin.

Northern Ireland international McCann had not scored since October 2024 but he took his goal with supreme confidence.

Jamal Lewis stole the ball from Dominic Iorfa and whipped it to the edge of the box where McCann's first touch took him clean through and he finished low past Pierce Charles.

Charles kept it at 1-0 as he made a fine double save from McCann and Alfie Devine and made another good stop to deny Devine after Osmajic had got Preston's second.

The Owls, who have only scored 18 times this season, came closest when Daniel Iversen kept out Bailey Cadamarteri's header - their only shot on target.

Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"A good, really strong performance. So many times in this league performances don't align with results so you have to focus but today this was one where the result aligned with the performance.

"I have seen so much of Wednesday this season for various reasons and in every game they have been dangerous regardless of the result. But at no point today did we give them any hope or any opportunities to get that foothold in the game and become dangerous, so I thought it was a strong performance.

"If we want to be at the top end of the league people are going to come here with a different mentality and a different mindset, so we want to make sure we win as many games as possible here and sometimes we have to be really conscious of our approach to that."

Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"I think we start the game really well - until the first goal it was an equal game where we were in good control.

"After the first goal we didn't get this rhythm back again. In the second half we were seeing that we were playing against one of the top six teams from the league. They are physical but with a lot of quality so it was a difficult second half.

"I think the first goal we were really well in the game, we moved them well around but we don't create a lot. When we want to break the defending line it is a challenge for us.

"Liam Cooper's injury is his groin. Normally when it is a groin it is a longer time [than a few days]. I think it will take a longer time with him.

"I am sure 2026 will be brighter for Sheffield Wednesday and the administrator will find a good solution and I am looking forward."