Marvin Johnson's first half strike proved enough for Sheffield Wednesday to run out 0-1 winners at Preston North End on Friday night.
Here are our six talking points from a frustrating final match of 2023 for Ryan Lowe's side.
5. Return of Riis after 361 days
"Fantastic yeah, we got the go ahead," said Lowe. "We were going to wait until Sunderland, but the physio department gave it the OK and said it couldn't be more than 15 minutes. He played a little bit more than that, but it's great for him and he nearly had a chance. It was cleared off the line when he was ready to come in, which would've been a great moment for him. But he is back and has been training so hard for the past 12 months. It's credit where credit is due and it's nice to see him back in a PNE shirt. I just felt it was important for him, for his mental side of things really because he's been stuck in the gym for so long - and training well for a month now, bit part. He has been full contact and I just felt it was a great opportunity to get him on the pitch tonight."
6. Will Keane's absence
"He's had Covid," said Lowe. "He won't be in tomorrow (Saturday), but will be in on Sunday. He'll come in and we'll see how he is. If he is fine and fit; he was actually off before the Leeds game believe it or not. He was sick then and came in the morning of the game for pre-match and still looked a bit rough. Maybe that set him back a bit, then he trained after the Leeds game and was alright. But he then went home and felt terrible again, so we just said to keep him away because we don't want it to spread. We will assess him on Sunday and see how he is."