Wednesday moved into the division one play-off places after a comfortable 2-0 home win over Charlton this afternoon.
Two first-half goals saw us move into sixth spot on 58 points from 33 games, with two matches in hand on the three sides immediately above us, Sunderland (59 points), Oxford (62) and MK Dons (66).
Second-placed Wigan are on 66 points with a game in hand on us while runaway leaders Rotherham have 74 points from 34 matches played.
We began well against Charlton and the early pressure paid off after just five minutes when George Byers headed into the far corner of the Kop net from Barry Bannan’s free kick on the right.
The game went into a lull after that excellent start before Bannan curled just wide from the edge of the box and then Marvin Johnson went close to making it 2-0 on 35 minutes when his long-ranger deflected off a defender for a corner.
However, we did double our lead just before half time, Johnson playing a big part when set free by Massimo Luongo down the left and his low cross was turned home from close range by Callum Paterson.
Charlton failed to muster a worthwhile effort in the first half and their only shot during the 90 minutes came soon after the interval, sloppy defending by Johnson allowing Mason Burstow an opportunity inside the box but he shot straight at Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
Johnson then had a chance at the other end on the hour but his angled shot deflected over the bar off Chris Gunter after Paterson’s nod down from Bannan’s through ball.
That was just about the final effort of a game which Wednesday controlled, without hitting any great heights, while the difficulties of the poor playing surface, particularly on the South Stand side, hardly helped for a free-flowing game.
The victory makes it six wins from our last seven matches and further boosted those play-off hopes, with Burton coming to S6 on Tuesday evening.
Peacock-Farrell, Storey, Hutchinson, Palmer, Hunt (Gibson 78), Luongo, Byers, Bannan (Sow 90), Johnson (Brennan 84), Berahino (Kamberi 71), Paterson. Unused subs: Wildsmith, Iorfa, Brown. Att: 21, 845.