Wednesday’s impressive run under caretaker boss Neil Thompson came to a juddering halt in a 4-1 defeat at Millwall this afternoon.
The reverse keeps us in 23rd place on 25 points and three away from the safety zone but we will look back on this result as what might have been after totally dominating the first half hour and taking an early lead.
Just as at Bournemouth in midweek, we began the game well and were ahead on 10 minutes. A good move led to Elias Kachunga pulling the ball back low across goal and Callum Paterson tucked the chance away at the second attempt from eight yards.
At that stage the home side looked to be lacking in confidence, having won just one home league game this season, and we went close to a second through Joey Pelupessy from just inside the box, the midfielder shooting wide when he might have done better.
However, we failed to turned this superiority into more goals and Millwall were handed a lifeline on 39 minutes from the penalty spot.
Pelupessy needlessly pulled back Ryan Leonard just inside the penalty area and Kenneth Zahore blasted the spot kick past Keiren Westwood to level the scores.
Whatever manager Gary Rowett said at half time, it had the desired effect on his Millwall players as, in a total reversal of the first half, they totally dominated the second 45 minutes while Wednesday struggled to create any move of note.
Westwood made a flying save to keep out an effort from Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and from the corner produced another excellent stop from a Shaun Hutchinson header.
The keeper then foiled Ben Thompson but was finally beaten again on 68 minutes when Scott Malone broke into the box and cleverly avoided challenges before volleying past Westwood.
A minute later it was 3-1 when what appeared to be an intended cross from Thompson flew over Westwood and into the far corner of the net.
Wednesday never looked like getting back into the game and conceded a fourth in the final minute, Barry Bannan’s misplaced crossfield ball being seized on by the Lions and Mahlon Romeo’s eventual shot deflecting past Westwood to make it 4-1.
Westwood, Palmer (Shaw 59), Dunkley, Lees, Hutchinson (Urhoghide 73), Penney (Harris 46), Reach, Bannan, Pelupessy, Paterson (Windass 73), Kachunga (Rhodes 59). Unused subs. Wildsmith, Borner, Brown, Green,