Wednesday moved up to fifth place in our play-off push with a 5-2 win over Burton Albion at Hillsborough this evening.
A seventh win in our last eight games takes us above Sunderland and onto 61 points, one behind fourth-placed Oxford – who lost at Portsmouth tonight – and with two games in hand on them.
MK Dons sit in third on 66 points but having played one more match than us while second-placed Wigan, who beat Fleetwood 2-0 this evening, are eight points clear of Wednesday and with a game in hand.
It was a typical roller-coaster display from the Owls on the first anniversary of Darren Moore’s tenure at S6, going two-up inside 30 minutes but unconvincing defending then seeing us hauled back to 2-2, before two spectacular second-half strikes steered Wednesday to victory.
As against Charlton on Saturday, we began the game in attacking fashion and Marvin Johnson saw an angled close-range effort blocked by keeper Ben Garratt after just two minutes.
Barry Bannan’s effort from just inside the box was deflected onto the top of the bar and then Jordan Storey’s header went over the top.
However, the breakthrough came on 12 minutes when Johnson sent in an inviting low cross from the left and there was Liam Palmer to turn the ball home at the far post for one of his rare goals.
And shortly before the half-hour mark Bannan made it two, his excellent effort from just outside the box going in off the bottom of the keeper’s right-hand post.
Unfortunately, any hopes of a comfortable victory were jolted almost immediately when we failed to fully clear our lines and Adlene Guedioura’s low 25-yarder took a deflection as it went through a ruck of players and into the net.
We started the second half in attacking style again but the visitors were level on 53 minutes when we allowed Baye Oumar Niasse to make his way into the box, shrugging off the challenge of Storey before slotting the ball into the far corner of net.
The defensive hesitancy was there for all to see but Lewis Gibson raised the cheers of the home crowd when he shot just wide and we restored our lead midway through the second half, Callum Paterson turning home Bannan’s corner at the far post.
Sub Saido Berahino fired over soon afterwards but Johnson settled some of the Hillsborough nerves 15 minutes from time, sending an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box into the top corner of the Kop net after Bannan’s corner was only half cleared.
Bannan’s effort was then just inches away from making it five but the Owls captain was not to be denied on 86 minutes when he curled a lovely 20-yarder past Garratt, to complete the scoring.
Peacock-Farrell, Palmer, Storey, Gibson (Iorfa 84), Luongo (Brennan 90), Hutchinson, Bannan, Johnson, Sow (Berahino 60), Paterson. Unused subs: Wildsmith, Waldock, Brown, Kamberi.