Victory over Blackburn gives Wednesday hope
Sheffield Wednesday defeated Blackburn Rovers 1-0 in a closely fought contest at Hillsborough on Tuesday evening. The Owls could have been relegated tonight if they had lost and Derby County had won at Preston North End but the victory, combined with a 3-0 win for Preston means that Wednesday are now only 4 points adrift of Derby with 3 games to play.
With Darren Moore still recovering from post-COVID illness at home he continued to manage the team remotely with Jamie Smith and Paul Williams taking charge at the ground. They made one chance from the team that drew 1-1 with Bristol City on Saturday, Jordan Rhodes coming in for Callum Paterson.
It was a game of few chances in the first half-hour, Westwood was equal to a Trybull long range strike early on and at the other end Harris also saw a shot from distance comfortably saved by Kaminski.
Rovers opened up the Owls with a sweeping move midway through the half but Gallagher wasn’t able to apply the finish, scuffing wide when well placed. With 8 minutes to go to half-time the home side found a crucial breakthrough. Reach crossed for Harris and the winger laid off a pass for Windass to shoot, the strike took a deflection off a Blackburn defender and gave Kaminski no chance.
Having taken the lead Wednesday pushed to double their advantage before half-time. Lees tamely shot over the bar having been picked out by a Bannan free-kick, Reach saw a fierce drive parried away by Kaminski and the rebound was returned with interest by Windass, only to see Lenihan chest the goal-bound strike to safety.
Wednesday created the best of the second half chances with Palmer shooting straight at Kaminski when well placed and Borner doing the same from a Bannan corner. Blackburn’s best chance of the half came when they caught the Owls on the break and a low cross from Armstrong found Buckley near the penalty spot but his first-time shot went straight at Westwood.
In truth Wednesday’s tendency to drop points late on never really threatened to happen on this occasion and they were resolute in earning a much needed 3 points.
The Owls still need Rotherham, who have 3 games in hand and Derby to drop points but they do still at least have a small chance of survival going into their final 3 games. Next up is a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.