• Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle conduct ‘embarrassing’, says manager • Simon Grayson’s side lost 2-1 at Wednesday, who also had a man sent off

Ten-man Sheffield Wednesday fought hard for their 2-1 victory over a wasteful Preston side in a bad-tempered clash that ended with the visitors having Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle sent off for a clash in the final minutes.

Trailing to a goal from Fernando Forestieri, who was himself later dismissed, and Steven Fletcher’s penalty, Preston pulled a goal back through Doyle. But any chance of securing a late draw was snuffed out when Beckford and Doyle were both shown red cards after an angry exchange between the team-mates off the ball.

Their manager, Simon Grayson, later labelled the pair “embarrassing” and confirmed that the club would take action against them The incident brought back memories of Newcastle team-mates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer being sent off for fighting each other during the 2005 defeat to Aston Villa at St James’ Park, as well as .

Football On 5 (@FootballOn5) Fight! 😡 Preston team-mates Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle are both sent off for clashing in the side's defeat at Hillsborough. pic.twitter.com/QNxh6SY4Wn

The Owls created the first big chance, when Adam Reach sent a lofted pass forward to Forestieri, who controlled the ball with his chest and drove to the edge of the box, but his shot was straight at the goalkeeper, Chris Maxwell. Forestieri continued to cause the visitors problems when he had a goal-bound effort blocked by Alex Baptiste, but he failed to clear the ball and Kieran Lee’s cross found Reach in space. The left-back’s mistimed shot then bounced favourably for Forestieri, who finished expertly with a headed flick into the bottom right corner from a central position.

Callum Robinson went close to levelling the scores immediately, when he fired a shot against the post from just outside the area. Wednesday then suffered a double injury blow. First, Ross Wallace was forced off in the 27th minute, with Will Buckley replacing him. David Jones then came on for Glenn Loovens, after the captain had gone down for treatment twice before finally leaving the field in the 35th minute, passing the armband on to Tom Lees. Preston continued to create chances but failed to convert them, with Westwood comfortably saving two efforts from Alan Browne.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Players try to restrain Jermaine Beckford and his Preston team-mate Eoin Doyle after the clash that saw them both sent off. Photograph: Ryan Browne/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

At half-time, Browne was substituted along with the former Wednesday player Aiden McGeady, as Grayson introduced Beckford and the Belgian full-back Marnick Vermijl. Preston had several set-piece opportunities from just outside the area after the break. Beckford had one effort disallowed for taking it too quickly, while Robinson and Daniel Johnson saw their shots miss the target.

Forestieri was then sent off by the referee, Scott Duncan, in the 65th minute following an off-the-ball incident. The home side then suffered their third injury, when Lucas João took a knock and was replaced in the 74th minute by Fletcher. Preston’s goalkeeper Maxwell brought down Buckley inside the area and Fletcher made an immediate impact, side-footing the ball into the bottom right corner to double the hosts’ lead with just over 10 minutes remaining.

With Buckley off the field receiving treatment, Preston capitalised on their two-man advantage, when the substitute Doyle smashed the ball past Westwood into the left side of the net from close range.

With Preston failing to convert their chances, frustration spilled over and the referee showed straight red cards to Doyle and Beckford – both for violent conduct – in the 90th minute.