Sheffield Wednesday 5 Reading 2: Antonio lights fuse to finally give Owls lift-off

Both strikers have arrived on loan from Premier League clubs, Wickham only joining the Owls from Sunderland on Friday, and they showed their class at Hillsborough.

Just days before Bonfire Night, the Owls had yet to win a game of football all season, and sat bottom of the Championship.

So little was expected when fifth-placed Reading arrived in S6. But Hull City loanee Fryatt sparkled with two goals, while Wickham delivered a rocket of a shot as Wednesday ripped up the form book.

But it was former Royals winger Michail Antonio who lit the fuse in this seven-goal thriller.

He created three of Wednesday’s goals, curled in a 20-yard effort and deserved his standing ovation from the 20,000 Hillsborough crowd.

Yet it will be the budding partnership between Fryatt and Wickham – starting his second loan spell after a month at Hillsborough last season – which will have Owls fans dreaming of better days ahead.

With Gary Madine jailed for his nightclub attacks and Adthe Nuhiu still adapting to English football, the Owls have been lacking a cutting edge in attack.

That changed on Saturday and left a relieved Owls manager Dave Jones to heap praise on the strike duo.

“They are Premiership players and you can see why,” he said. “They were both outstanding.

“It’s testament to the football club that we can attract players of their calibre and they will only continue to grow stronger and stronger.

“But it’s credit to all of them today. They can take the confidence from a win like that against a very good Reading side.

“Now we have to build on that when we go to another good side in Derby next week.”

It was the first time 23-year-old Antonio had faced Reading since being sold to Sheffield Wednesday in 2012, the Berkshire club having picked up the winger from non-league football five years previously.

After Reading had dominated the early stages, Wednesday were 2-0 up from their first two efforts on goal.

Antonio seized on an error by left-back Stephen Kelly, luring goalkeeper Alex McCarthy out before teeing up Fryatt, who stroked the ball home.

The winger then doubled the advantage after good work from Seyi Olofinjana, who produced a powerful performance in the heart of the Owls midfield, alongside the passing machine that is Stephen McPhail, as he fired in from long-range.

Pavel Pogrebnyak headed Reading back into the game, but then came a rare moment for Wednesday, a slice of luck which had been missing in their eight draws from 12 Championship games before the weekend.

Olofinjana won the ball once again in midfield, and Antonio slipped in Wickham. The England Under-21 striker – who will stay at Hillsborough until January – saw his fierce shot parried by McCarthy only for the ball to hit retreating defender Sean Morrison and roll over the line.

In previous games this sort of incident would have seen the bobbling ball end up in the arms of the goalkeeper.

The Hillsborough PA announcer had mistakenly credited Wickham with the first and third goals at Hillsborough, so it was a hat-trick of sorts when the former Ipswich Town forward actually did get on the scoresheet.

Again, Antonio was the architect, driving forward down the right flank before finding Wickham, who hammered his effort into the roof of the net.

The only surprise was Antonio was a bystander for Wednesday’s fifth goal. And this was the most exciting in terms of where Fryatt and Wickham can go as a partnership.

The ball was played to Wickham’s feet, and a subtle flick into Fryatt’s path saw the latter race away before lifting the ball over a helpless McCarthy.

It was game over and the Owls cruised the last 30 minutes, the only blot coming when Roger Johnson felled Pogrebnyak in stoppage time and former Rotherham United striker Adam Le Fondre converted the penalty.

If Wednesday have turned the corner with this result – they climbed out of the relegation drop zone after starting the day bottom – then Jones believes they have created their own luck.

“I have nothing but praise for all of them because they deserve it,” he said. “This result has been coming and I feel sorry for Reading because everything we did went right for us today.

“But sometimes you make your own luck and it’s not as if we have been playing badly, because we haven’t.

“We all feel we haven’t been getting the breaks, such as the penalty last week and the disallowed goal at Bolton.

“We were watching the Watford v Leicester game earlier today and Leicester got a lucky goal and we thought ‘we just don’t get those kind of breaks’.

“But we got one today in our favour and sometimes those little slices of luck can make all the difference.”

Reading manager Nigel Adkins stated: “I thought we started well and played some good football, but goals changed the complexion of the game.

“We were good for the first 20 minutes and then Wednesday scored a goal against the run of play.

“The goals are shocking from our point of view and they changed the game. We did well in periods but in the end we just got thumped 5-2 away from home.”

The Owls’ home game against Leeds United on Saturday January 11 has been moved to a 12.15 kick-off due to being televised live on Sky.