Sheffield Wednesday 2 Wycombe 0 - Jordan Rhodes digs Owls out of drop zone

Here, the development regarding Halloween was much more to their liking.

You had to go back to the final day of October in 2017 for the last occasion that Jordan Rhodes had scored a goal in home colours at Hillsborough.

The ending of the much-maligned striker’s epic wait between goals at s6 finally ended at the timeliest of junctures for Wednesday.

It rewound the clock in every respect as Rhodes – fresh from his dramatic late winner at Bournemouth a week earlier – scored the sort of trademark goal that he had been associated with for most of the first half of his career.

His neat header to flick the ball past Ryan Allsop following Kadeem Harris’s dinked cross on 34 minutes put Wednesday on their way to a precious victory which moved them out of the relegation zone, more importantly.

The win was made safe 14 minutes from time courtesy of a deflected drive from Adam Reach, with Wednesday afforded relief at the final whistle on the equivalent of a winter wonderland surface at Hillsborough following a late snow deluge.

Home form is fortifying the Owls’ safety push. This was their fifth successive league win on home soil, something which they previously did way back in October, 2011.

Caretaker boss Neil Thompson spoke about Wednesday having to brace themselves for winning games and losing games during a run-in which will test resolve and character, but he would not have envisaged losing this game against rock-bottom Wycombe. Some matches are plainly bigger than others.

Bottom of the division they may be, but Wycombe, a harmonious club who sing from the same hymn sheet led by a wanabee rock star in Gareth Ainsworth, have rarely hit duff notes in terms of spirit and heart in their first ever foray at this level.

Admittedly on occasions, that can have its limitations in terms of coping with sides blessed with higher quality levels as their 7-2 thrashing at Brentford proved.

On a Baltic evening on a difficult, icy surface, the clear and sensible instruction from Thompson to his side was not to over-elaborate and use the flanks and get crosses in early, more especially with the presence of Rhodes in the middle.

Wednesday followed that brief to the letter, but unlike in the reverse fixture when their thirty-plus crosses yielded no reward, they fared better.

A collector’s item from Rhodes – certainly given recent seasons – was the highlight of the first period and while he could not milk the adulation from Wednesdayites in the empty Kop, it was another uplifting moment.

Given the conditions and the stakes, it was a sound first half from the Owls, whose main scare arrived when they were momentarily caught on a swift counter by Wycombe, with referee Gavin Ward being unmoved after Anis Mehmeti went down under pressure from Harris following Daryl Horgan’s low centre.

Aside from one header which was held by Keiren Westwood, the bulk of Adebayo Akinfenwa was kept in check by the Owls, who gradually came to the fore.

A sweeping move started by a fine pass with the outside of his foot by the returning Liam Shaw almost produced a picture book opener with Callum Paterson’s first-time effort tipped over by Allsop from Reach’s cross.

Ex-Hull defender Ryan Tafazolli got in the way of Bannan’s low shot and made a key block to stop Reach’s goalbound volley, but all the while, there was the feeling that one moment of quality could unlock Wycombe and so it proved.

A cross-shot from Bannan hinted at a second on the resumption, but Allsop was equal to it as the second goal which would have made the night far more straightforward stubbornly refused to arrive, a development which would not have necessarily surprised watching Wednesday supporters.

Half-chances arrived, while the scoreline kept Wycombe interested, with Ainsworth making a raft of changes in the final half-hour in a bid to seek a response.

But the cherished moment would belong to Wednesday.

There was anguish with a wicked free-kick delivery from Bannan evaded a number of Wednesday players in the six-yard box, when it just needed a touch.

Fortunately, that did not last long with Reach’s well-struck shot from 20 yards taking a significant deflection off Stewart before flying past Allsop.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Lees, Dunkley, Urhoghide; Harris, Shaw, Bannan (Pelupessy 87) Reach; Paterson; Rhodes (Kachunga 82). Substitutes unused: Wildsmith, Palmer, Borner, Penney, Dele-Bishuru, Windass, Brown.

Wycombe Wanderers: Allsop; McCarthy, Stewart, Tafazolli, Obita; Ofoborh, Thompson, Mehmeti (Muskwe 71), Kashket (McCleary 71), Akinfenwa (Ikpeazu 62), Horgan (Onyedinma 71). Substitutes unused: Anderson, Jacobsen, Wheeler, Knight, Samuel.

Referee: G Ward (Surrey).

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