Wednesday moved up to third in the Championship with a far from convincing 1-0 win over Stoke at Hillsborough tonight.
We took the lead near the end of an instantly forgettable first half when Massimo Luongo latched onto Steven Fletcher’s headed flick and took advantage of poor defending to slot the ball past the advancing Adam Federici.
Both sides went close to scoring just after the hour-mark, Cameron Dawson making a fine stop to keep out Lee Gregory’s close-range header and then Federici tipping away Kadeem Harris’ fierce effort.
However, that was a rare threat from a Wednesday side who just couldn’t find any rhythm in a stop-start game littered with fouls and injuries.
Stoke, who finished with 10 men after having used all three subs and then suffering another injury late on, looked the more likely team to score after the interval but failed to turned their possession into clearcut goalscoring opportunities.
And it was a relieved Wednesday who ran out winners, lifting us into that third spot and just three points behind leaders West Brom, before tomorrow evening’s remaining midweek Championship fixtures.
Dawson, Palmer, Iorfa, Börner, Fox, Reach, Hutchinson, Bannan, Luongo (Lee 54), Harris (Forestieri 74), Fletcher (Nuhiu 81). Unused subs: Jones, Pelupessy, Winnall, Odubajo. Att: 22,460.