Joao heads the way to second Owls victory

Lucas Joao celebrated his new Wednesday contract with both goals to steer us to a 2-1 success against ten-man Ipswich.

It was far from a vintage performance in a distinctly average game but this second Championship win at Hillsborough inside four days lifts us to 14th place in the table.

For Joao, the double strike represented his first goals of the season after suffering a groin injury earlier this month, and they came after he recently extended his contract at S6 until 2021.

The Portuguese striker grabbed his first on 15 minutes when he headed home Barry Bannan’s corner kick at the far post.

Jordan Thorniley then headed narrowly wide from a Bannan free kick but the Tractor Boys looked lively going forward and grabbed an equaliser four minutes from the break when Aristote Nsiala nodded past Cameron Dawson.

And the visitors almost took the lead two minutes later, Liam Palmer blocking Gwion Edwards’ effort on the line.

Marco Matias fluffed a decent chance early in the second half with a weak finish and Bannan saw his shot cleared off the line by Jonas Knudsen as Wednesday looked marginally sharper than in the first period.

One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came 20 minutes from time when Fernando Forestieri was introduced from the bench and, soon afterwards, he was involved in a controversial incident that saw goalscorer Nsiala shown a straight red card for a tackle on the Owls striker.

To make matters worse for the visitors, their 10 men soon found themselves behind again, Joao heading Bannan’s corner against a post and reacting first to nod home the rebound on 77 minutes to clinch all three points.

Dawson, Palmer, Lees, Thorniley, Penney, Pelupessy, Bannan, Reach, Matias (Forestieri 72), Nuhiu, Joao (Fletcher 79). Attendance: 22,499.

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