Sheffield Wednesday 1 Derby County 0: Michael Smith upsets former manager as Owls end play-off hopes of Paul Warne's Rams

It wasn’t a pain halved either with both left to pick up the pieces after cruel relegations for Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United.

On this occasion, it was the former who was left to commiserate with his opposite number, now in charge at Derby County and one of football’s good guys like himself.

Events at Oakwell, allied to a very harsh dismissal which turned the game in Wednesday’s favour in the 41st minute when veteran defender Curtis Davies received his marching orders - with a player whom Warne knows very well in Michael Smith netting from the spot - left the likeable Warne feeling understandably sore.

Smith took his season’s tally up to 20 in the process. He is the first Owls player since Neil Mellor in 2010-11 to reach that milestone in a season as Wednesday extended their unbeaten league sequence on home soil to a head-turning 19 matches.

In glorious spring sunshine, Moore’s side are now primed for the play-offs. By contrast, another grand old club in Derby must collectively lick their wounds this summer instead.

It was frantic at the end as the Rams pushed for the equaliser they needed to thwart Peterborough. It was not to be and it is Posh who will be the next visitors to S6 in the play-offs and not Derby.

There are concerns for Wednesday, most notably the absence of Lee Gregory with a cheekbone injury. It is to be hoped that is tempered by the return of Josh Windass's return.

But their home form is resoundingly strong and they have also finished the regular season with four successive wins, home and away, which constitutes momentum at least.

Their total of 96 points is the highest ever tally for a side not to be automatically promoted.

Wednesdayites needed no second invitation to get stuck into David McGoldrick and remind him of his previous affiliations with the other half of the city early on. He went close to silencing them 13 minutes in.

Some neat interplay involving another with ex-Blades connections in Conor Hourihane and former Owls winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing set up the striker, whose piercing drive yielded a flying save from Cameron Dawson to prevent the ball from nestling in the top corner.

McGoldrick comfortably looked to be the Rams’ major individual threat - as he prowled around that corridor of uncertainty between defence and midfield.

At the other end, Barry Bannan showed vestiges of polish; always a reassuring sight, while the running power of Fisayo Dele-Bashiru caused a few issues for the visitors.

That said, opportunities were hard to come by and former Owls custodian Joe Wildsmith had little to do in front of the Kop, initially.

The scoreline at Oakwell was more of a worry for Derby, in truth.

Up popped McGoldrick again and he lurked in the box after Max Bird got away down the right. Instead of being picked out for a tap-in, the pass was careless and lacked precision and Dawson blocked with his legs.

It looked like a big moment and events towards the other goal instantly magnified it.

Davies’ backpass was short and Wildsmith raced out to challenge the onrushing Callum Paterson.

With Wildsmith stranded out of his goal, the loose ball was seemingly destined for Johnson to tuck it into the goal he had vacated.

Davies clearly tugged the shirt of the Owls player with referee Leigh Doughty harshly deeming it as not just a penalty, but also a clear goalscoring opportunity, despite the fact that covering defender Eiran Cashin had made attempts to guard the goal.

The complexion of the game changed even though there was enough time for McGoldrick to go close again with his chip just lacking enough loft to clear Dawson, who tipped his effort over following Brown’s error, while Wildsmith thwarted Liam Palmer at his near post ahead of the interval.

With the half-time score at Barnsley seeing them fall out of the play-offs, Derby’s season was very much on the line, while Wednesday were secure in the knowledge that chances should open up against a side with a numerical disadvantage.

Another of Warne’s former leading lights from his Rotherham days in Will Vaulks almost applied the salt with his curler smacking the crossbar with his goalbound follow-up blocked by the alert Craig Forsyth.

A curling shot from Bannan was not far away minutes later as the hosts started to find gaps. Creditably, Derby kept going. Mendez-Laing’s heavy pass found Bird, but the angle was tighter than it should have been and Aden Flint cleared off the line.

Paterson headed a golden chance wide to seal it with Warne having no option but to empty the sheds and get as many attack-minded players on the pitch as possible given events up the A61. There was nothing doing.

Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson; Iorfa, Flint, Brown; Palmer (Hunt 78), Vaulks, Dele-Bashiru (Durrant 85), Bannan (Bakinson 78), Johnson; Paterson, M Smith (Windass 65). Substitutes unused: Stockdale, Glover, James.

Derby County: Wildsmith; Cashin, Davies, Forsyth; Knight (White 74), Bird (Dobbin 69), Hourihane (Collins 74), Roberts; Mendez-Laing (Barkhuizen 69), Sibley (K Smith 44); McGoldrick. Substitutes unused: McGee, Rooney.

Referee: L Doughty (Lancashire).

Attendance: 33,413.