Preston 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Adam Reach rescues late point

Adam Reach struck in the final minute of stoppage time to snatch Sheffield Wednesday a dramatic 1-1 draw at Preston and maintain their place in the Championship play-off places.

The draw ended a run of three straight victories for the Owls, who missed the chance to jump to third in the table.

Preston, who also had two goals disallowed in a dominant second half, had taken the lead through a Sam Hutchinson own goal.

Callum Robinson had the first effort of the game in the 11th minute, spinning and unleashing a shot from 25 yards which was pushed around the post by Keiren Westwood.

And the hosts continued to be the better side in the opening stages, passing up another chance as Robinson picked out Simon Makienok six yards out after 22 minutes, but the Danish striker headed well wide of the near post.

When Sheffield Wednesday's first effort of the half came after 44 minutes, it was no threat to Chris Maxwell's goal as Ross Wallace's 20-yard strike was high and wide.

It was Preston who began the second half on the front foot. They kept the pressure on after a corner was cleared on 51 minutes and Paul Huntington nodded down for Alex Baptiste, who fired inches wide from six yards.

Wednesday then put together their best move of the match as Barry Bannan's cross looked set to pick out Steven Fletcher in the six-yard box, but Huntington touched it away from the striker and Reach could not convert the follow-up.

Preston seized the initiative with a string of chances and had a goal disallowed after an hour. Aiden McGeady's shot was palmed away by Westwood but from the resulting corner Makienok hammered the ball home - only for the referee to blow for a foul on the keeper.

And the hosts continued to control the game, having another goal ruled out after 69 minutes when Robinson fired past Westwood but was adjudged to be offside.

Simon Grayson's side finally got reward for their constant pressure in the 77th minute as Greg Cunningham was slipped in behind on the left edge of the area and his low cross was deflected in off the unfortunate Hutchinson.

And they came close to doubling that lead five minutes later as McGeady's strike from 20 yards cannoned back off the post, before Tom Clarke's close-range header was held by Westwood.

Wednesday pushed hard late on and got their reward in injury time when Reach, who was on loan at Preston last season, smashed home after a goalmouth scramble.

Preston manager Simon Grayson:

"When the opposition score so late in the game it's hard to take. But when you look at how well we played and how much we dominated we can be very proud of our performance without getting the result.

"The players played very well and made a very good team look very average. Sheffield shouldn't have got anything out of the game."

Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal:

"We won one point that's for sure. "Sometimes the opponent makes it very difficult and that's what happened.
Preston did that to us, they put a lot of pressure on and made it very difficult to play our style of game. At the end we had the luck that in some games we didn't have in some other games. This is football.

"We missed some pace in the side. I don't want to complain, but we had no (Gary) Hooper or (Fernando) Forestieri - these are players who give us more pace. I'm happy with the point because I know that the future will be brighter
because we will recover the players and have more options."