Danny Rohl was rightly proud of his Wednesday team’s performance in a vital 3-1 win at Blackburn today.
Victory lifts us out of the bottom three for the first time since August and, with two games remaining, we now have our fate in our own hands.
We sit in 21st place on 47 points, one point and place ahead of Birmingham and three clear of Huddersfield in 23rd … and those two clubs clash at Huddersfield next Saturday.
Plymouth are immediately above us on 48 points with Blackburn a further point clear and QPR and Stoke on the 50-mark.
After the Ewood Park triumph, Rohl said: “We
were ruthless today and it was a fantastic performance.
were ruthless today and it was a fantastic performance.
“It’s not about defending our position, it’s about attacking the next position.
“Today we had that courage. We played the way we want to play. As a manager you can always have a plan but the players have to drive on the pitch and they are doing well.
“We connected our performance with a good result. In the last few weeks we’ve had some good performances but maybe not the results we wanted.
“Today we had both. It was a real team performance and I’m very proud of my team.
“Now it is about recovery and preparing for West Brom on Saturday.”
The manager was also full of praise for the 7,000-plus travelling Wednesday fans and they didn’t have long to wait to celebrate, Josh Windass scoring one of the Championship goals of the season to chip Aynsley Pears from 35 yards out after the home keeper had come out of goal but made a hash of a headed clearance on six minutes.
However, the lead was shortlived when dangerman Sammie Szmodics ran clear three minutes later to shoot past James Beadle.
Wednesday came out looking a stronger outfit in the second half and were rewarded with two further goals inside six minutes.
Just before the hour, a tremendous midfield challenge from Will Vaulks saw Anthony Musaba breaking down the right and his low cross was turned home in smart fashion at the far post by Marvin Johnson.
Soon afterwards, Pears miskicked as he looked to clear a pass back and the ball trickled into the net despite the keeper’s efforts to retrieve the situation.
Wednesday then showed the discipline and energy to see out the game – including 11 minutes of added time – keeping our ‘great escape’ hopes still alive with those two games left to play.
Beadle, Valentin, Palmer, Ihiekwe (B Diaby 16, Iorfa 56)), Famewo, Johnson, Vaulks, Bannan, Musaba (Paterson 79), Windass (Gassama 79), Ugbo (Smith 79). Unused subs: Dawson, Pedersen, Hendrick, Cadamarteri.