Wednesday suffered ‘added time’ agony for the second successive Saturday in a 2-1 home defeat to play-off rivals Coventry at Hillsborough this afternoon.
Ellis Simms struck the winner on 92 minutes, his second of the game after James Beadle spilled a high ball played into the box and the reverse leaves us in ninth place on 45 points, three behind West Brom in sixth spot.
The Owls, with Barry Bannan back in the starting line-up, created several openings in the first half with some impressive passing movements but lacked that cutting edge while we looked shaky at the back at times on the few occasions that Coventry threatened.
Our first chance came on six minutes when Barry Bannan sent Svante Ingelsson clear, he looked to be pulled back and couldn’t get his shot away before Ike Ugbo and Djeidi Gassama saw follow-up efforts blocked.
Ingelsson then brought a diving near post save out of keeper Oliver Dovin before Coventry took the lead on 16 minutes with their first real threat.
Jack Rudoni was given time and space to cross from the right and Simms shrugged off the attentions of Max Lowe to flick home a close-range header.
Wednesday hit back and Ugbo just failed to get on the end of Gassama’s driven ball across goal and then the former tested Dovin with an angled effort.
However, it was almost 2-0 to Coventry on 32 minutes when Rudoni’s low shot from the edge of the area came back off Beadle, Simms challenged him for the loose ball and, although he forced it over the line, it was ruled out for a foul on the keeper.
Wednesday continued to press forward after half time and deservedly drew level in the 63rd minute when Dovin pushed out Marvin Johnson’s low cross but the ball hit defender Joel Latibeaudiere and rebounded into the Kop net.
Coventry hit back with a header from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto that brought a flying save out of Beadle but Johnson shot wide at the other end and Wednesday had two penalty appeals turned away after Ibrahim Cissoko and Shea Charles went down in separate incidents as we looked for a late winner.
Instead, as the game went into added time, it was Coventry who took the points … and it came from another incident involving Beadle and Simms.
Coventry hoisted a hopeful ball high into the penalty area and when Beadle fumbled his attempted catch under pressure from Simms, the striker pounced on the loose ball to prod home the winner despite the efforts – and protests – from the keeper.
Beadle, Valery, Ihiekwe, M Lowe, Johnson, Charles, Armstrong (J Lowe 71), Bannan, Gassama (Cissoko 82), Ingelsson (Windass 46), Ugbo (Smith 54). Unused subs: P. Charles, Palmer, Otegbayo, Paterson, Valentin. Attendance: 28,121.