Birmingham City 1 Sheffield Wednesday 2: Owls '˜ecstatic' as Gary Hooper plunders double

Owls two-goal Gary Hooper finds team-mate Jack Hunt on his back.

Hooper struck in the 77th and 79th minutes and must have impressed Carlos Carvalhal, Wednesday’s coach, who missed the post-match press conference to enable him to catch a plane after an injury-interrupted game.

In his absence, club coach Lee Bullen claimed Wednesday’s success was down to Hooper’s goalscoring ability, which has fired the Owls’ promotion aspirations, after trailing to Clayton Donaldson’s goal in first-half stoppage time.

Bullen said: “It was a fantastic game of football under difficult conditions. Early injuries to Kieren Westwood and Sam Hutchinson hindered us until we got going again.

“Birmingham got a foothold in the game and caused us problems but we kept plugging away.

“We have good, good players and somewhere along the line they eventually find a way back into the game.

“Hooper’s first goal was fantastic. Some of the one-touch play on a difficult pitch was sublime. To go and get the second goal a few minutes later made us ecstatic.

“We were hindered losing two players so early in the game but we have a very good squad.”

On Hooper, he added: “His goalscoring track record is second to none whether down here or up in Scotland.

“We are now in the play-offs and we know on our day we are as good a match for any club.”

It was not a good day for goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, who was carried off in the eighth minute with a neck injury and concussion while midfielder Hutchinson also went off injured soon after.

Birmingham City: Kuszczak, Caddis, Morrison, Robinson, Grounds, Gleeson, Kieftenbeld, Buckley (Vaughan 81), Toral (Fabbrini 71), Maghoma (Solomon-Otabor 83), Donaldson. Unused substitutes: Legzdins, Spector, Davis, Shotton.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood (Price 18), Hunt, Lees, Sasso, Pudil, Wallace, Hutchinson (McGugan 22), Bannan, McGeady (Nuhiu 61), Forestieri, Hooper. Unused substitutes: Semedo, Bennett, Helan, Lucas Joao.

Referee: J Adcock (Nottinghamshire).

Man of the match: Gary Hooper.