Milutin Osmajic marked his return to the team with a goal as Preston beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at Deepdale.
The 26-year-old had been missing since November 5 due to a nine-game suspension and a minor hamstring injury but he showed no signs of rustiness with a clinical 61st-minute finish to double Preston's lead.
Ali McCann had put the Lilywhites ahead with a composed opener after 28 minutes and Lewis Dobbin slammed in a late third.
Thousands of Wednesday supporters made the somewhat challenging trip up from Sheffield and remained vocal from the first minute until the last, chipping in with sarcastic chants about their own team's misfortunes as they languish at the foot of the Championship on minus-seven points.
After a tepid start on a bitterly cold Lancashire afternoon, in the 15th minute Jordan Storey headed over Alfie Devine's inswinging corner when he really should have hit the target.
The Owls would have taken the lead in the 24th minute, were it not for the heroics of Daniel Iversen, who dropped low to brilliantly keep out Bailey Cadamarteri's glancing header on the end of a wicked Harry Amass corner.
North End took the lead just as it looked like the visitors were getting their foot into the game with McCann doing brilliantly well to take Jamal Lewis' hopeful cross in his stride before slotting into the corner.
McCann nearly bagged his second just minutes after his first, forcing Pierce Charles into a diving save with a fierce effort from just inside the box, and the Wednesday keeper then made another excellent reflex save to deny Devine on the rebound.
Henrik Pedersen brought Sean Fusire on for Liam Cooper before the interval and the Zimbabwean lashed an effort high and wide from range at the start of the second half.
That shot earned ironic cheers from the visiting faithful and chants of, 'We've had a shot', but the Championship's basement boys did show a great deal of attacking intent and endeavour after the interval.
But it was all in vain as the returning Osmajic latched on to Ben Whiteman's pass in behind and rifled high past a helpless Charles to double the home team's lead.
That goal knocked the stuffing out of Pedersen's men and, while deserved on the balance of play, it was a little against the run of play.
The all-action Devine nearly made it three minutes after the second but Charles managed to parry his 30-yard piledriver.
It looked like two would be the magic number until Dobbin popped up in the 85th minute, slamming McCann's ball across into the corner from the centre of the box.
Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:
"It was a really strong performance. We talk about this league a lot and you can't let it frustrate you because so many times performances don't align with results so you have to focus on what you want to do and key moments in games but today I felt the performance did align with the result.
"I've seen so much of Wednesday this season for lots of different reasons and they've been dangerous in every game, regardless of result, particularly in the first 30 minutes when they have a real go. They can cause carnage. They did that away at Ipswich, at home to Hull, and to us at Hillsborough.
"But I felt today, at no point 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 really strong performance."
Sheffield Wednesday's Henrik Pedersen:
"The performance up until the first goal was really good. Defensively we were well-organised. Offensively we had a good balance to play in, to play around, to play in behind, to run a little bit.
"After the first goal, it was important to get the rhythm back before [half-time] and it was still an equal game. In the second half, we were really getting into the game and then we conceded the second goal in transition.
"There's a reason why Preston are so high in the league. They are physical, a very strong team, really well-organised, [and they have] really good players so it was a tough day."
