Blackburn Rovers 1 Sheffield Wednesday 2: Hard work paid off, insists Gray

Claude Dielna came off the bench in injury time to score the winner as Sheffield Wednesday recorded a 2-1 Sky Bet Championship win at Blackburn.
Owls sub Claude Dielna with a dramatic late winning goal.Owls sub Claude Dielna with a dramatic late winning goal.
Owls sub Claude Dielna with a dramatic late winning goal.

The Frenchman had only been on the pitch for a minute when he curled in with the last attack of the game as Stuart Gray’s side recorded a dramatic victory.

They went ahead early on through Kieran Lee’s close range effort, which was soon cancelled out by Alex Baptiste.

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Wednesday were resolute throughout and Stevie May forced a low save from Jason Steele but the best chances fell to the hosts, with Jordan Rhodes heading onto the post and Ryan Tunnicliffe forcing a flying save from Keiren Westwood.

But just as it looked like the spoils would be shared, Dielna popped up to give Wednesday a first Ewood Park success since 1999, ending Rovers’ nine-match unbeaten run.

Wednesday manager Gray felt his side’s better ‘composure’ was the difference.

He said: “I thought the first 20 minutes, we totally dominated it. Kieran Lee’s got his goal and we had two or three more opportunities where we got in behind them and then we stopped doing what was getting us our success.

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“We allowed Blackburn to come into the game and then there was a 20-minute period in that second half where we’ve had to roll our sleeves up and dig in. They play to their strengths, get the ball into (Rudy) Gestede and play around there.

“But I thought we had a little more composure going forward. When Claude went on, it was to give us a bit more of an aerial defensive threat because we felt the ball was going forward a bit early.

“We had it done to us (a last-minute winner) at Millwall at home, it’s a horrible feeling and I feel for Gary (Bowyer, Blackburn boss) but I’ll take it. I believe these things will balance themselves out.

“I’m a great believer that the harder you work, it balances itself out for you. Performance-wise we’ve been playing well. I think that’s 20 games and only four defeats so it’s not a bad record.”