Sheffield Wednesday 2 Ipswich Town 1: Lee leaves it late to crown Owls milestone moment at the double

When Henri Lansbury gave Nottingham Forest a surprise first-half lead at Hillsborough, it was just the prelude for another crazy game.

For the fourth successive game, the side who netted first, went on to lose. In their last two Hillsborough outings, the Owls had trailed to Wigan and Bristol City – the latter 2-0 at half-time – only for the hosts to stage come-from-behind wins.

When Gary Hooper gave Wednesday the lead at Birmingham City the previous weekend, the Blues were the ones to snatch a late victory.

So nobody inside Hillsborough was too surprised when Kieran Lee netted twice in the second half on Saturday to cap another thrilling home display.

It means, with the stoppage-time equaliser at Brentford last month, Wednesday have taken a remarkable 10 points from losing positions in their last five games.

Saturday’s goal double was extra sweet for Lee – the 28-year-old midfielder also netted the winner against Bristol City – who was celebrating his 150th appearance in an Owls shirt.

“It’s a nice way to cap the day off,” said Lee, signed from Oldham Athletic four years ago. “I have enjoyed it more and more, since I came here. It was a special moment

“Year by year, I have improved – I think the team has improved, too – and I have enjoyed it more.

“The most important thing is for the team to win, but for me personally to get a late winning goal is nice, to celebrate in front of the fans. It’s great and hopefully something we can build on.

“It was great to score (in front of the Kop) – that’s why you play, to score goals. I am enjoying it, the team are winning, and, hopefully, I can get a few more goals.”

Lee is the top scorer at Wednesday now with three goals this season.

“I didn’t even know, I will be reminding the lads when I get back into training,” he joked.

“I got seven last season, so, hopefully, I can get more. That’s the target for me personally, to score more than I did last season.

“I think it’s to do with the late runs. I have been working on getting into positions to score.

“Last season, I got into a lot of positions but missed a few chances. I didn’t really shoot a lot.

“All the players, even those not playing, go on the pitch with confidence. You can see that in the team, we have struggled a little bit – conceded first, which is something we need to improve on – but we have gone on to win.

“These last-minute goals, it’s not me just scoring, it’s the team putting them on a plate. We played well in the first half even though we were losing.

“It shows the character we have in the squad that we can keep on going when there’s only a few minutes left on the clock.”

Wednesday dominated the first half, and should have been in front before Lansbury netted against the run of play when his long-range effort deflected off Barry Bannan and looped over a stranded Keiren Westwood.

Ross Wallace cut inside only for Forest goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic to claw the ball to safety, then Hooper dragged an effort wide.

Steve Fletcher saw his volley saved by Stojkovic before a goalmouth scramble left Wednesday fans in the 27,350 crowd scratching their heads at how it did not produce a goal.

Hooper’s header, following a surge forward from Bannan, was then spilled by Stojkovic. Fernando Forestieri slid in, but was unable to make contact, and as the ball rolled across goal towards Fletcher, Forest defender Michael Mancienne dived in to clear the danger.

After the break, the Owls pushed forward in search of an equaliser.

Hooper twice went close, one shot deflected wide, before a low cross somehow evaded the striker with the goal at his mercy.

Forest were dangerous on the counter-attack, though, and Westwood produced a stunning one-handed save to tip away Apostolos Vellios’s goal-bound header.

It proved to be a pivotal moment, for Lee headed Wednesday level soon after, ghosting in to score from Wallace’s corner.

Wednesday surged forward looking for the winner, Lee picking out Forestieri – playing wide on the left to accommodate Hooper and Fletcher in attack – and he jinked his way through, only for his shot to be deflected into the side-netting.

Wallace saw his floated cross cleared off the line by Chris Cohen, before the winner came in stoppage time.

Substitute Atdhe Nuhiu flicked a long ball on to Fletcher, who played a one-two with Forestieri, before squaring to Lee, who chipped the ball into the net.

It was Wednesday’s fourth win in five games at Hillsborough, but they are yet to win on their travels.

“It was disappointing to concede in the last minute at Birmingham, but, hopefully, we can build on this and keep going,” said Lee.

“Once you start winning, the confidence keeps building.

“It’s a little bit early to start looking at the league table. Hopefully, we can pick up a couple of wins before the international break and see where we are.

“I think everyone knows what we want, we have got to try and push for promotion. That’s everyone’s target.

“We will take it game by game and see where we are in a couple of months.”