Preston North End defender's loan at Sheffield Wednesday has started with a flourish

The defender has made an excellent start to his stay at Hillsborough.

Storey’s four appearances for the Owls to date have resulted in four wins and four clean sheets.

That run has taken them to seventh place in League One and very much put them in play-off contention.

North End allowed Storey to go on loan in January after finding himself out of Ryan Lowe’s plans at Deepdale.

With Wednesday paying a sizeable amount towards his wages, that saving helped PNE finance Cameron Archer’s loan move from Aston Villa.

Between February last year and late October, Storey made 35 consecutive appearances in the Preston defence.

But he was in and out of the side after that, with his last game in a PNE shirt being at Blackburn on December 4.

Storey is playing on the right-hand side of a back three at Wednesday, the same role he filled at North End.

In the four games before he went into Wednesday’s side, they had conceded 11 goals.

Regular watchers of the Owls say Storey has fitted in extremely well and helped bring stability at the back.

Their latest win was a 1-0 success over Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night – fellow PNE loanee Tom Bayliss was an unused sub for Wigan.

What halted Storey’s run in the team at Preston was Sepp van den Berg being moved from wing-back to the right side of the back three.

The 20-year-old, on loan from Liverpool, has flourished in the central role.

Further defensive cover has come in with the signing on a short-term contract of Bambo Diaby.

PNE manager Lowe seems content with the defensive options available to him.

When the senior squad for Championship games was registered with the EFL in recent days, defenders Paul Huntington and Matthew Olosunde were left out of it.

North End have registered 24 senior players and left a space free which can be filled at any point.

Having a space free for now gives them some flexibility.

If injuries hit the centre of their defence, Huntington is available to be registered.

Likewise Olosunde is an option should they get short of bodies in the right wing-back position.

Clubs had to register their squads at the beginning of September for the first half of the season.

During the January transfer window, clubs only had to register their squad on a game-by-game basis.

On February 4, squads had to be registered with the EFL for the remainder of the season.