Sheffield Wednesday 2 Bristol City 1: Ike Ugbo brace boosts Owls survival hopes

Ike Ugbo opened the scoring in stylish fashion and restored the home advantage after Jason Knight levelled for Bristol City. Wednesday were made to scrap for three points in a tussle of a game and had to hold on to their lead with 10 men after Di’Shon Bernard’s dismissal.

However, Danny Rohl’s men showed the mettle required for a relegation battle to seal three crucial points on home turf.

The opening stages offered little in the way of entertainment as neither side showed much purpose in possession. The first save of the afternoon was made by James Beadle, who palmed away a Tommy Conway shot sent towards goal from a tight angle.

Wednesday had done little probing early on but it was the Owls who opened the scoring in the South Yorkshire sunshine. Ugbo was found by Liam Palmer in the box, although the loanee still had plenty to do when he received the ball with his back to goal.

A deft spin away from his marker, however, created an opening and Ugbo made no mistake burying in the bottom corner.

The goal put a spring in Wednesday’s step but their bubble was soon to be burst. Knight leapt to meet a corner delivery and looped a header past Beadle to put the Robins back on level terms.

The pace of the game picked up considerably as the half-time whistle approached and it was Wednesday who were asking the questions. Bristol City faced an onslaught of attacks and could only weather the storm for so long.

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Marvin Johnson tried his luck and his shot was diverted back across goal by Ugbo, wrong-footing Max O’Leary as he moved to the left.

The excitement of the first-half’s latter stages was not continued after the break as the game reverted to the scrappiness seen earlier on. Both the Owls and the Robins were wasteful in possession and consequently struggled to threaten.

There was a sign of life on the hour mark, when Anthony Musaba switched the ball to the right with Ian Poveda in acres of space. The winger teed up Ugbo but the forward miscued his shot under pressure.

It was then Will Vaulks’ turn to try his luck but the midfielder’s shot was straight down the throat of O’Leary.

Bristol City turned to their bench for inspiration and a freshening up of their side seemed to sharpen the Robins up. However, their desire to commit bodies left them vulnerable to Wednesday counter-attacks.

The visitors were caught short on the left flank and were almost punished, breathing a sigh of relief when Pol Valentin’s effort whistled past the post.

Minutes later, Poveda capitalised on a shortage of Bristol City bodies to drive forward from deep and play the ball into the path of Ugbo. To the relief of the travelling fans, the forward failed to generate power with his shot and O’Leary held.

Wednesday were then dealt a blow as Bernard was shown a second yellow card for a foul, boosting Bristol City hopes of an equaliser. However, it was the Owls who came closest to scoring late on.

Michael Smith pounced on a defensive mix-up to race through on goal but was denied by O’Leary in the dying embers. It proved to the final clear-cut opportunity of the game as Wednesday held on for a second consecutive Championship win.