Wednesday threw away the opportunity to make a real statement in the Championship promotion chase in a 2-1 defeat at Brighton on Friday evening.
We were fortunate to be level at 1-1 at half-time, Anthony Knockaert giving Brighton the lead on 34 minutes before Wednesday snatched a surprise equaliser just before the break when Lewis Dunk deflected Fernando Forestieri’s cross into his own net.
After a largely inept first-half display, we showed more aggression and were already dominating the home side before arguably the game’s crucial moment on 64 minutes.
Glenn Murray was dismissed for handling Glenn Loovens’ fierce drive from inside the box but Forestieri saw his penalty saved by David Stockdale, with the keeper then also clawing away the striker’s follow-up.
We continued to dominate for the next few minutes but rarely tested Stockdale and the ten men of Brighton began to get a foothold back into the game, culminating in Knockaert grabbing the winner five minutes from time.
Worse followed when Steven Fletcher was red carded on 89 minutes for pushing his head into Dale Stephens’ face and minutes later Sam Hutchinson received a second yellow card after a senseless lunge on Brighton’s Solly March.
Within the space of 30 minutes, Wednesday had lost a great opportunity to defeat fellow promotion chasers, seen two players sent off and lost the game.
Victory would have taken us to within six points of Brighton but they are now 12 points clear at the top of the table. Wednesday remain in sixth place, six points ahead of seventh-placed Derby who host fourth-placed Reading on Saturday.