Sheffield Wednesday 4 Huddersfield Town 4: Rhodes leaves it late to deny Owls as rivals put on pulsating derby display

Chants of ‘cheat, cheat, cheat’ rained down from the Hillsborough Kop after Deadman waited six minutes to blow the final whistle of this pulsating encounter.

The fact that Jordan Rhodes equalised for Huddersfield Town with more or less the last kick of the game was too much to tolerate for the Wednesday supporters.

Just how Deadman conjured up such a lengthy period of stoppage time is still a mystery.

But Owls manager Megson resisted the temptation to join the chorus of disapproval and, instead, pointed an accusing finger at his defenders.

Holding a two-goal advantage with 12 minutes to play, the Owls would have increased the pressure on leaders Charlton Athletic if they had held on for victory.

“The ref puts whatever time he wants to put on there and, once he says five minutes, there is no point moaning about it,” shrugged Megson. “You have to defend better than that and we were not streetwise enough.

“From our point of view, we have to make sure that once we are in that position again – and we will be – we don’t do the same things.

“Making a mistake happens and we have to make sure we learn from those mistakes,” he added. “We became a little bit tally ho at a stage in the game where we needed to be solid.”

Town striker Rhodes stole the show with all four of his team’s goals but the result was harsh on the Owls who recovered from a shaky start.

The Owls could not cope with Town’s early intensity and, even when they had been in possession, had given the ball away cheaply.

Rhodes, who initially let Wednesday off the hook with a mis-placed header, scored twice in the first 16 minutes.

His first was a header into the roof of the net from 12 yards, his second a near post header – both were products of crosses from the right hand side of the Owls’ box where on-loan James Tavernier struggled to impress.

Rhodes threatened to complete a hat-trick in the 23rd minute but chipped the ball narrowly wide after holding off a weak Tavernier challenge.

If the shot had gone in, it could easily have been game over for the Owls but the miss seemed to inject fresh wind into their sails.

The Owls scored twice in a frantic five-minute spell to draw level and the roar from home supporters threatened to lift the roof at Hillsborough.

Captain Rob Jones started the revival with a towering header from a Ben Marshall cross.

David Prutton appealed in vain for a penalty when his cross struck the arm of Tommy Miller before Reda Johnson equalised from close range.

The goal capped off a crazy few moments in which Sanchez Watt’s shot deflected off Lee Novak and hit the bar, Town goalkeeper Ian Bennett blocked a shot from Chris O’Grady on the line, and Gary Naysmith’s attempted clearance cannoned back into the danger zone off Danny Batth.

Back on level terms, the Owls played with a swagger and Town’s priority became plugging holes in their defence.

Although O’Grady flashed a shot into the side netting, they had stemmed the tide by half-time and were again the team pushing for the next goal.

But Megson’s half-time introduction of striker Ryan Lowe served as a statement of intent and the Owls were soon back in command.

Pressure had been mounting on the Terriers before Marshall scored Wednesday’s third goal after 63 minutes.

The on-loan winger won a race with defender Jack Hunt to meet goalkeeper Stephen Bywater’s long clearance and then showed nerves of steel to tuck the ball home when there were better options to pass to in the box. Ironically, Marshall has been linked with a possible move to Town in the New Year transfer window so it was no surprise that his goal sparked a chorus of ‘Sign him up!’ from the Wednesday Kop.

The game was still in the balance when O’Grady scored the fourth for the Owls with 15 minutes to go.

Indeed, Town had been unlucky not to draw level just moments earlier when Owls midfielder David Prutton made a vital interception in the box to deny Donal McDermott.

O’Grady scored with a back header which looped over Town goalkeeper Bennett and at that stage, it looked all over for the visitors.

Hundreds of fans in the away end began heading for the exits – no doubt fearing a third consecutive defeat so soon after the club’s record-breaking unbeaten run.

But Town’s players had not given up the fight and when Rhodes completed his hat-trick with a low angled drive it set up a tense finale.

Although Megson repeatedly called for long balls to the corner flags, his players started to show signs of nerves and, in some cases, inexperience.

The Owls were duly punished as Town moved the ball down the centre of the park, and took advantage of hesitant defending, before Rhodes found the net.

Asked if he had any complaints about the added time, Megson said: “I have more complaints about the savvy we showed in that added time.

“If you know what you are doing and you have that quality in terms of know how you can defend for an hour like that. You just need cool heads and a little bit of know how to flip it over the full-backs heads and push in from there.”