Two goals in the last 12 minutes fired Wednesday into fifth place in the division one table after a deserved 2-1 win over MK Dons at Hillsborough this evening.
The visitors took the lead just after half time with an unstoppable 25-yarder from Scott Twine but Wednesday, who had been the more dominant side as the first half wore on, dug in and showed the fighting spirit and intensity so often lacking to seal victory with goals on 83 minutes and then deep into added time.
Lee Gregory brought us level with an excellent near post header, flicking home Josh Windass’ corner in great style. Then, three minutes into injury time, Barry Bannan set Theo Corbeanu free on the left, he pulled the ball back to Windass 10 yards out and, although he miskicked with his left foot, the striker recovered instantly to lash the ball home with his right peg in front of an ecstatic Kop.
The win lifts us into fifth place on 32 points, five behind league leaders Rotherham and Wycombe, with Gareth Ainsworth’s men to come to Hillsborough on Saturday.
MK Dons had posed the early problems tonight, Warren O’Hara failing to get proper connection at the far post and then Twine beating the offside trap but lobbing over the bar while also appealing for a penalty for the challenge by Chey Dunkley as he shot.
Barry Bannan hit back with a fierce 30-yarder that was pushed away for a corner by Andrew Fisher and the keeper tipped over the header that followed from Dunkley.
The Owls defender was causing real problems for MK Dons from set pieces and another header on 17 minutes looked to have led to an opening goal for Wednesday. Fisher was able to parry the effort but Ciaran Brennan turned home the rebound from inside the six-yard box, only for the effort to be ruled out for a foul by Dunkley.
At the other end, Hiram Boateng was left unmarked but shot wide from eight yards while Florian Kamberi’s glancing header was just off target.
Wednesday continued to look the more likely to open the scoring and it was Dunkley again who caused more problems for the visitors with another header from a corner, Kamberi unable to turn the ball home under pressure from a defender.
All that Wednesday pressure was undone within a minute of the restart when Twine cracked hom his long-ranger but, undeterred, the Owls continued to press forward and almost grabbed an equaliser on 57 minutes.
A long clearance by Bailey Peacock-Farrell caused a mix-up between keeper Fisher and O’Hora, Jack Hunt seized on the loose ball but his angled effort almost from the goal line came back off the far post. Even then, Gregory looked to have been brought down as he chased the rebound but penalty appeals were waved away.
Still Wednesday pushed forward, Corbeanu testing Fisher with three long-range efforts, Dunkley close to turning home a Bannan cross and then Gregory failing to make contact in front of goal from Berahino’s low cross.
However, three minutes later Gregory made no mistake with his cracking header and then Windass, a second-half sub after his lengthy injury lay-off, smashed home the winner to also signal the first time we have come back from behind to earn three points since the home victory over Brentford in December 2019.
Peacock-Farrell, Palmer, Dunkley, Brennan, Hunt, Bannan, Dele-Bashiru (Berahino 72), Byers (Luongo 54), Corbeanu, Kamberi (Windass 64), Gregory. Unused subs: Wildsmith, Brown, Shodipo, Wing.