Sheffield Wednesday 2 Norwich City 2: More brinkmanship from Owls as they make hard work of dramatic point

This season was one long headstart before the Owls finally got their house in order in December and fought their way to the brink of getting out of the Championship relegation zone.

Once there, they fluffed four consecutive chances to get out of it, only ending their winless run when they knew three points would not lift them out of the bottom three.

Given that chance again at home to Norwich City they stubbornly refused to come to the party until they were 2-0 and glad it was only that.

But with 12 minutes to go, they finally got their act together scoring twice from corners to take their goal tally from flag kicks this season to... two, and salvage a point nobody really saw coming. Doing it such a hard way is a very risky strategy, though.

The point the 2-2 draw Michaels Ihiekwe and Smith provided was a couple short of what the home team could have done with, but 77 minutes into the game, no one in Hillsborough would have turned their nose up at it.

The 5,000 league game of a famous old football club came for a celebration and were presented with a wake.

With 5,000 free tickets offered to those who would not normally be able to afford chairman Dejphon Chansiri's ticket price, the 28,516 crowd was pumped up for a huge game against play-off chasing Norwich. With less than 20 minutes gone they were being booed, 2-0 down. It all seemed a bit much for those in blue-and-white stripes.

What made it all the more annoying was that the Canaries did not have to work hard for it. If anything, they let their hosts off lightly after being gifted a two-goal headstart by dozy defending.

An attacking line-up started positively enough, winning a fourth-minute corner when Dominic Iorfa overlapped Anthony Musaba but when Wednesday got the ball in, Bambo Diaby headed over.

Things were not so great the other end.

With nine minutes gone goalkeeper James Beadle gave the ball straight to Norwich midfielder Marcelino Nunez. Beadle saved, and saw Ashley Barnes blaze the follow-up but as modern goalkeepers so often do, he stubbornly refused to heed the warning.

The 11th minute opener came when Diaby opted out of heading a long throw-in and Josh Sargent ran of Akim Famewo to convert.

Beadle made a low save from Nunes then decided to give him another goal a few minutes later, picking him out again. This time he found Borja Sainz to score.

You could see the confidence sucking out of the home players, simple passes going astray.

Djeidi Gassama nutmegged his man, made space for a pass to Michael Smith and failed to execute it. A sequence of passes along the back went out for a throw-in.

The boos turned to ironic cheers when Beadle finally wellied the ball downfield after 21 minutes.

Finally in the 34th minute, Wednesday wove an intricate move from central midfield to left-back, across the back four and down the wing, only for Musaba to massively overhit his cross.

Nunez shot wide and over at the end of the half as the home team faffed about with it again.

With Huddersfield Town leading at half-time it could scarcely be worse as the Owls were booed back to the dressing room.

Manager Danny Rohl was disgusted enough to make a quadruple half-time substitution - just short of going all in with only five changes allowed – and a formation change to a 3-4-1-2 which had Musaba skewed over to the right between the lines.

It instantly produced more fire and fury, but not enough else.

Bannan steered a shot at Angus Gunn when Callum Paterson nodded the ball back to him, and shot wide when a long throw-in was cleared to him.

Buit their Achilles heel was already on show for all to see, Norwich getting in time and again behind Kristian Pedersen, often as his team-mates tried to play offside.

Jack Stacey's shot was saved and Gabriel Sara dragged a shot wide. A curling Nunez free-kick was also saved.

Norwich failed to capitalise when they broke down that side again in the 71st minute but Wednesday got the ball away and although they hit it at the visiting defenders, they made a mess of it to present Paterson with a chance he hit straight at the goalkeeper as Hillsborough held its breath.

So only the most optimistic Owl could see one goal, never mind two, coming – especially not from corners.

Both involved former Rotherham United players, Will Vaulks providing the deliveries for Michaels Ihiekwe and Smith rising at the far post to head in after 78 and 85th minute.

Try as they might, the third to lift them out of the bottom three would not come, even though Huddersfield tried to help by turning 1-0 up to 4-1 down late on at Preston North End.

Well, where is the fun in getting out of the drop zone before the last five minutes of the season?

Sheffield Wednesday: Beadle; Iorfa, Diaby (Valentín HT), Ihiekwe, Famewo; Bannan, Palmer (Vaulks HT); Musaba (Cadamarteri 75), Windass (Paterson HT), Gassama (Pedersen HT); Smith.

Unused substitutes: Dawson, Hendrick, Fletcher, James.

Norwich City: Gunn; Stacey, Batth, Gibson, McCallum; Nunez, McLean; Sara, Barnes, Sainz (Duffy 90); Sargent (Gibbs 61 (Fassnacht 64)).

Unused substitutes: Long, van Hooijdonk, Fisher, Welch, Aboh, Serrao.

Referee: C Kavanagh (Manchester).