Sheffield Wednesday 1 Reading 0: Penalty save was defining moment, admits Gray

The Scottish striker saw his free-kick deflected in to earn the Owls all three points.

But the hosts had goalkeeper Keiren Westwood to thank for keeping them in the contest before May’s intervention.

First the former Sunderland goalkeeper saved Glenn Murray’s first-half penalty, then blocked Jake Cooper’s close-range header after the break.

Westwood also parried Nick Blackman’s 30-yard effort as the Royals had the better of the chances.

At the other end, Wednesday were denied a couple of penalty shouts themselves while Atdhe Nuhiu fired wide from May’s cross.

Owls coach Stuart Gray said: “It’s nice to put that one to bed because people keep saying that we haven’t won here since March 26 in the league so they’ll have to think of another question now next week!

“I just felt that the penalty save was probably the defining moment in the game. It gave us a lift and it gave the fans a lift. We seemed to then pick up a bit of momentum.

“Credit to Reading because they closed us down and pressed us. They forced errors, but the players responded.

“We started the second half very well and probably deserved the win in the end.

“We could probably have had two more penalties. The referee perhaps needed a little bit of help from his linesmen.

“Stevie May’s free-kick took a deflection and the ball ended up in the bottom corner. We earned that break today, I thought. We went to Bolton last week, had 25 goal attempts and didn’t get a break.”