Ipswich Town 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1: Owls keeper Westwood ends afternoon in hospital

The Owls stopper was substituted during the game, which Wednesday lost despite hitting the woodwork and some late drama.

An entertaining start saw Wednesday take the lead on 19 minutes when Ross Wallace fired into the roof of the net after the impressive Marco Matias - who earlier hit the post - had pulled the ball back.

However, the advantage lasted just two minutes when Freddie Sears pounced on indecision among Glenn Loovens and Jeremy Helan to beat Westwood at his near post.

Ipswich went in front once more - and ultimately the points - eight minutes after the restart when Ryan Fraser showed his own impressive wing play before his cross was parried by Westwood into the path of Tommy Smith, who headed home from close range.

Town centre-back Christophe Berra also saw two headers cleared off the line by Lewis McGugan and Kieran Lee, and Sears came close to grabbing his second and Ipswich’s third.

But it was a nail-biting finish for the majority inside Portman Road, when a strong run from Lucas Joao threatened a late equaliser, only for his long-range drive to be turned around the post by Bartosz Bialkowski.

Coming into the game on the back of an excellent start to the season, which had heralded two wins and six goals, new Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal refused to be too downbeat.

He said: “I am unhappy about the result but I am proud of my players, who fought for the whole 96 minutes, and also our fans, who supported the team during and after the match.

“We knew this would be one of the hardest matches in the Championship but in some parts we controlled the game and we put Ipswich under pressure in the last 15 minutes.

“But my players are learning and if this was played in three months time it would be a different test.”

Carvalhal now faces some selection dilemmas after admitting his options from the bench were limited by injuries to Westwood, Sam Hutchinson and Loovens.