Sheffield Wednesday 5 Reading 2: Owls rewarded for hard work, believes Jones

A Matty Fryatt double and further strikes from Michail Antonio and Connor Wickham, as well as Reading defender Sean Morrison’s own goal, gave the Owls a 5-2 victory.

Jones believes Wednesday’s first triumph of the Sky Bet Championship campaign is just desserts for their hard work this term.

He said: “It’s not as if we’ve been playing badly, we just needed to get a break and I feel it’s the reward for the players for the hard work that they’ve been doing.

“We just needed to turn the draws into wins and everything that could go for us went for us and these are the days you’ve got to enjoy.

“The lads that we’ve brought in late are getting fitter and stronger but we’ve had to do that during our own game time. All the hard work that everyone’s put in has come to fruition.

“It could have been 5-5 in the first half and it could have been 12-8 in the second, with the chances we had and they had. It was such an open game but with our attacking prowess throughout the game, we were always a threat.

“It’s been coming, all that frustration and bad luck came good. I can’t fault the players and they should enjoy it, because on Monday we’ll batter them for the mistakes they did make.”

Pavel Pogrebnyak and Adam Le Fondre’s late penalty failed to mask a thoroughly disappointing day for the Royals.

Boss Nigel Adkins felt it was a game his side thought they could win but defensive mistakes cost them dearly.

He said: “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.

“Then I thought we were good again, playing the ball around and then Antonio shoots in and all of a sudden it’s two then Pavel pulls one back and we think we are in the game again.

“The third is probably the bit of fortune maybe Wednesday haven’t had, then we go down the other end and should have had a penalty and at half-time there was still a belief we could win the game.

“We started the second half brightly but again that next goal would be the important one and unfortunately for us, Wednesday get a breakaway and score the fourth so it was always going to be a challenge from there.

“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.”