Sheffield Wednesday vs Norwich City. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich City at Hillsborough on Tuesday night; Josh Windass and Dominic Iorfa score early as Danny Rohl's Owls bounce back to secure victory.
Tuesday 5 November 2024 23:21, UK
Sheffield Wednesday bounced back from their weekend Hillsborough hammering with a 2-0 home Championship win against Norwich.
The Owls shipped five second-half goals in Saturday's 6-2 home defeat to Watford, but two before the break from Josh Windass and Dominic Iorfa against the Canaries were enough to see them respond in style.
Norwich were unbeaten in seven games before conceding two late goals when losing 2-1 at Cardiff at the weekend and they have dropped to 12th in the table - level on 18 points with the Owls - after back-to-back defeats.
Kellen Fisher forced a good low save from Owls goalkeeper James Beadle before Wednesday striker Ike Ugbo gave the visitors a huge let-off, somehow heading Marvin Johnson's excellent cross off target in front of an open goal.
But the Owls took an 11th-minute lead, with Johnson dissecting Norwich's defence with a brilliant diagonal pass and Windass holding his nerve for a clinical low finish.
Norwich enjoyed plenty of possession, but had only Borja Sainz's speculative long-range effort, which was narrowly off target, to show for their neat approach play before they went 2-0 down.
Owls midfielder Shea Charles, on loan from Southampton, swung a looping free-kick from the right to the far post and Iorfa outjumped everyone to plant a downward header beyond goalkeeper George Long.
Wednesday threatened a third immediately after, with the Canaries all at sea at the back, when Long turned away Ugbo's low effort at full stretch.
Iorfa was replaced by Gabriel Otegbayo early in the second half after taking a blow to the head before Johnson crashed a 25-yard shot straight at Long.
Norwich remained ponderous in possession, unable to build pressure on an untroubled Wednesday defence.
During a break in play while Long resolved an issue with his leg, Canaries manager Johannes Hoff Thorup gathered his players on the touchline.
An impromptu pep-talk appeared to have an instant effect, but Sainz's header, after Beadle had parried substitute Christian Fassnacht's effort, was ruled out for offside.
It was the first chance Wednesday had allowed the English Football League's leading scorer.
At the other end, Owls substitute Callum Paterson's overhead kick from Yan Valery's cross flew wide and the Owls comfortably saw the game out for a clean sheet and their fifth league win of the season.
Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:
"It was a very tactically strong performance. We can be proud of that. Now it's recover and create energy for the big one on Sunday, of course. It will be an emotional game and we're in a good position to go into it. We have a belief, a clean sheet, two nice goals. Now two teams in a great atmosphere and my team is ready.
"Big credit to my players. I always trust and believe in my players, I know what we can do. We trained on Sunday and I made some clear messages to my team. I was sad and angry with my team. We've invested so much and we destroyed it in 45 minutes (against Watford).
"My team knows there is an emotional side when it is necessary. It was necessary and now we are ready."
Norwich's Johannes Hoff Thorup:
"I'll not say the word 'survive', but we have to until after the game on Saturday (at home against Bristol City) when we'll see who's fit.
"At the moment I count 15, or maybe 16, available players in the squad. That's where we are and we have to make it work, to deal with it and get the best possible results out of it.
"But of course we struggled. It is a tough time for everyone involved and that's why I won't sit here and blame any of the players. Now is not the time to do that."
