Ten-man Wednesday went down 1-0 at Bristol City this afternoon after a battling display that might have brought us a draw on another day.
The turning point arguably came just after the half-hour mark when Barry Bannan was given a straight red card after bringing down Jason Knight on the edge of the penalty area.
Knight had robbed Bannan 25 yards from goal, with the Wednesday man seemingly not expecting a pass out from Cameron Dawson and, despite there being defender Di’Shon Bernard and Dawson between Knight and the goal, the skipper received his marching orders, presumably for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
The resulting free kick by Tommy Conway was half-blocked by George Byers with Dawson scooping the follow-up off the line … but with the Owls left a man short for more than an hour of the game.
This seventh away defeat in eight games, also with no goals in our last six matches on the road, leaves us still on six points at the foot of the table and nine from safety but it was another much-improved display under Danny Rohl, compared to the desperate days of Xisco Munoz.
The hosts looked the sharper side early on but it was Wednesday who went closest to taking the lead midway through the first half.
An excellent move ended with Reece James finding Anthony Musaba unmarked at the near post and he flashed his header across goal but inches over the top from eight yards.
This was followed by the red-card incident but we continued to hold our own for the rest of the half and it was the same story at the start of the second period, Dominic Iorfa’s powerful header from a Will Vaulks corner bringing a diving save out of keeper Max O’Leary.
Musaba then produced a fine run down the left but his pull back from the byline failed to find Paterson in the box.
However, the extra man for the home side gradually began to show as they started to dominate possession and they took the lead on 64 minutes, Conway’s low cross deflecting off Vaulks and into the path of Rob Dickie who turned the ball home from close range.
The hosts them missed a great chance to double their lead when Conway hit the left-hand post and Sam Bell sent the rebound against the foot of the other upright when he should have scored.
Undeterred, Wednesday weathered the spell of pressure and we were close to an equaliser with six minutes remaining. An angled 20-yard free kick from Vaulks was flicked on by sub Ashley Fletcher but O’Leary parried at the foot of the post and we just couldn’t get a touch to turn home the loose ball.
The opportunity turned out to be just about our last threat, leaving Wednesday looking back on what might have been.
Dawson, Iorfa, Diaby, Bernard (Fletcher 83), James (Famewo 83), Paterson, Byers, Bannan, Gassama (Vaulks 46), Musaba (Johnson 83), Smith (Valentin 46). Unused subs: Vasquez, Ihiekwe, Gregory, Buckley.