A three-goal defeat at Plymouth tonight leaves Wednesday now 11 points from safety, still searching for a first Championship win of the season in 13 starts and having failed to find the net in our last six matches.
We now face fellow strugglers Rotherham – winners against Coventry tonight – at Hillsborough on Sunday in an almost ‘must-win’ clash for the Owls, even at this stage of the season.
Wednesday more than matched Plymouth for 43 minutes before the home side hit us with two goals in the closing stages of the first half and we were very much second best in the second 45 as Argyle ran out comfortable winners.
Morgan Whittaker sent an early long-range shot against the outside of the woodwork for the hosts but Wednesday began to pose some problems of their own and, with more confidence and composure on the ball, we might have taken the lead.
Anthony Musaba broke away down the right and outstripped the home defence but his resulting low cross failed to find a Wednesday attacker.
Keeper Michael Cooper was fortunate we couldn’t take advantage when he made a mess of dealing with a Josh Windass cross and then came our best chance when Musaba’s cross picked out Lee Gregory but he shot over from 10 yards.
And we paid for the missed opportunities with Argyle striking twice just before the break.
First, Dominic Iorfa brought down Whittaker on the edge of the box and Mustapha Bundu stepped up to fire the free kick into the top corner of the net.
We then gifted Plymouth a second almost straightaway when Pol Valentin decided on an unnecessary short pass to Iorfa and when, not surprisingly, the defender failed to control the ball, Whittaker pounced to fire past Dawson.
Any hopes of a second-half fightback failed to materialise and Plymouth, who threatened to add to their tally, finally did so 14 minutes from time when George Byers lost possession and sub Ryan Hardie shot across Dawson into the far corner of the net to seal our 10th defeat of the season.
Dawson, Valentin, Iorfa, B. Diaby, Famewo, Byers (Hendrick 78), Bannan (Vaulks 78), Musaba (Gassama 65), Buckley (Smith 46), Windass, Gregory (Wilks 65). Unused subs: Vasquez, Palmer, Bernard, James, Hendrick, Vaulks, Gassama, Wilks, Smith.