Report: Owls 4-1 Wolves
The Owls put to bed a hoodoo stretching back over half a century with a convincing win over Wolves at Hillsborough.
September 1964 was the last time Wednesday beat the Midlanders on home soil and once Fernando Forestieiri had cancelled out a Benik Afobe penalty with a spot-kick of his own, the victors were never in doubt.
Livewire Forestieri added another before Daniel Pudil netted his second goal for the club and Gary Hooper applied the final coating of gloss.
Earlier, though, started by far the brighter, with former Owls loanee Afobe the outlet for the visitors.
Afobe twice threatened to break clear of the Wednesday backline in the first ten minutes before James Henry went close with a clever chip that brushed the top of the net.
Then the game burst into life with two penalties, one for either side, in five minutes.
First, Ross Wallace was adjudged to have felled Matt Doherty in the box, leaving Afobe to do the necessaries from 12 yards.
Next, Lucas Joao raced in on goal and Doherty, having just won his team a spot-kick, promptly conceded one and Forestieri stepped up to dispatch into the bottom corner.
That gave the Owls fresh impetus and on 25 minutes, they duly took the lead.
Wallace delivered a telling cross to Joao, who teed up Forestieri and the Italian smashed home with the aid of a slight deflection.
The pendulum was right in Wednesday’s favour but on 39 minutes, Wolves missed a golden opportunity to equalise.
Jordan Graham swung a wicked cross to the far post, where Nathan Byrne headed over the top from six yards with the goal at his mercy.
But five minutes before the break, the Owls might have extended their advantage.
Barry Bannan sent Joao scampering through and after Carl Ikeme blocked, the ball fell nicely to Wallace, whose driven shot sailed wide of the upright.
Still there was time before the whistle for another chance and this time Joao was denied a splendid save from Ikeme, who tipped the striker’s instinctive hit onto the crossbar.
The Owls continued the pressure in the second half and did make it 3-1 on 59 minutes.
Bannan advanced towards the penalty area and saw his pass to Hooper intercepted but the loose ball landed perfectly for Pudil to pick his spot beyond the diving Ikeme.
It was all Wednesday and the contest was almost over on 65 minutes when Ikeme came charging out of his area and Forestieiri nearly made him pay with a curling effort on the angle that was just of target.
Then it was Wolves’ turn to threaten and Jack Hunt was alert to clear an Ethan Ebanks-Landell header off the line.
Forestieri, desperately seeking a hat-trick, skied over from a Wallace feed as the Owls continued to press and Bannan drilled over from range.
Try as they might, Wanderers struggled to keep Wednesday at bay and the closing stages played out with the hosts squarely in the driving seat and Hooper wrapped up the win with a neat finish after terrific work from substitute Atdhe Nuhiu.
Wednesday: Westwood, Hutchinson, Loovens, Hooper, Joao (Helan 58), Lee, Hunt, Wallace, Pudil, Bannan, Forestieiri (Nuhiu 84)