Wednesday fail to make first half ascendancy count
Sheffield Wednesday slipped to their second defeat of the week and their first Championship loss on Sunday afternoon as they were beaten 2-0 at Ashton Gate by Bristol City.
Garry Monk made two changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Watford last weekend as Liam Palmer came in for Matt Penney and Elias Kachunga replaced Jordan Rhodes in attack.
Wednesday started well with Kadeem Harris and Kachunga going close in the early exchanges. The Robins were finding hard to apply any attacking threat and as half-time approach it was the Owls continuing to look the most likely with Josh Windass sending a couple of efforts off target.
The visitors will have been happy with their performance in the first 45 minutes but frustrated at not turning their play into goals and the second 45 minutes proved to be something of a role reversal, a stereotypical game of two halves.
Bristol looked far more threatening after the break and they were able to make the crucial breakthrough on the hour when Chris Martin headed down a floated ball into the box for the onrushing Tommy Rowe to score from close range.
The home side should have doubled the lead moments later but Wells somehow managed to fire over the bar when well placed before Moore also fluffed his lines in front of goal.
Wednesday offered little in terms of testing Bentley in the home goal and an equaliser never looked likely, even when Rhodes was belatedly brought into the game with just six minutes remaining. The home side wrapped up the win in injury time when Paterson cut into the penalty area on Wednesday’s left and beat Dawson with a low shot into the opposite corner of the goal.
The result sends the Robins to the top of the Championship table while Wednesday remain bottom on -8 points.