Wednesday slumped to a second successive away league defeat in a punchless 2-0 reverse at Plymouth Argyle this afternoon.
We found ourselves two goals down at the break and, despite having a decent spell of pressure in the closing stages, conceded a third goal almost on the final whistle and finished a well-beaten team.
The defeat sees us plummet to 12th place in the table on 10 points, five behind leaders Sunderland, and leaving Darren Moore with plenty to ponder on after a performance lacking in passion, energy, commitment and creativity.
We got off to a poor start in front of our sellout travelling contingent of 2,000 fans, Bailey Peacock-Farrell failing to deal properly with Conor Grant’s cross on eight minutes and Joe Edwards pouncing on the loose ball to hook it back over his shoulder and into the unguarded net.
Any hopes of a quick Wednesday equaliser never looked likely. Indeed, it was Plymouth who lwent close to adding to their lead and they eventually did so five mintues from the break when Grant’s free kick into the box was not dealt with and Dan Scarr was left free at the far post to turn home goal number two.
Clearly unhappy with the first-half display, manager Moore brought on Olamide Shodipo and Saido Berahino at half time and then introduced Theo Corbeanu just before the hour.
However, Peacock-Farrell twice thwarted Plymouth from getting a third goal before Wednesday finally caused a problem or two for the home side in the closing stages. Barry Bannan headed wide when he should have hit the target and Corbeanu saw his fierce snapshot in the box parried by home keeper Michael Cooper, with Plymouth managing to scramble the ball away.
Then, just to complete an instantly forgettable performance, we conceded a third goal in added time when Argyle broke clear and Ryan Law was left in plenty of space on the left to make it 3-0.
Peacock-Farrell, Hunt (Shodipo 46), Iorfa, Hutchinson, Palmer, Wing, Bannan, Byers (Berahino 46), Sow (Corbeanu 58), Gregory, Johnson. Subs. Wildsmith, Dunkley, Dele-Bashiru, Paterson.