Sheffield Wednesday 3 West Brom 0: Anthony Musaba powers Owls to brink of safety at bouncing Hillsborough

With Anthony Musaba driving at defenders, Barry Bannan harrying and creating, the Owls thumped play-off hopefuls West Brom at a bouncing Hillsborough to move three points clear of a relegation zone they have occupied for all but two weeks of the season.

They need only a point at Sunderland next Saturday to confirm survival, but the way Danny Rohl has been setting his side up to attack teams in the closing weeks – not always with this level of success – they should go to the Stadium of Light with no fear.

Certainly they have the backing of the Owls faithful who turned up in their thousands for this huge encounter, buoyed by the 3-1 win at Blackburn last Sunday that finally hoisted Wednesday out of the bottom three for the first time since the second week of the season.

Musaba was the inspiration, his opportunism resulting in the first goal on 22 minutes when he slid the ball home at the second attempt from an acute angle.

The 23-year-old Dutchman’s direct running created the second, just when Wednesday needed it most at the start of the second half to quell any chance of anxiety growing among the vast majority of the 33,000 inside Hillsborough.

When his drive into the box was stopped as he was about to shoot, Ike Ugbo picked up the pieces and slammed the ball into the roof of the net.

And then Musaba’s purposeful running created the clinching third on 67 minutes, chasing a break into the right-hand corner and teeing up Bannan with a little help from Will Vaulks.

Wednesday’s indomitable captain unleashed a shot from 25 yards that Alex Palmer could only beat into the path of Josh Windass who took a moment to look at the Kop and then send them delirious by planting the ball into the empty net.

In between times, Ugbo hit a post again from a chance created by Musaba, and Windass headed against the bar from Bannan’s deep cross.

It was no less than Wednesday deserved from a full-throttle performance against a passive Baggies team whose appearance in the top six makes a mockery of the Championship’s reputation as a tough division.

They only showed fight when they had fallen 3-0 behind and even then, Dominic Iorfa and Di’Shon Bernard net the challenge and when they didn’t, James Beadle was there to deny firstly Brandon Thomas-Asante and then Kyle Bartley from close-range headers.

Wednesday, who were 12 points adrift in late November, have reached 50 points with a game to spare. Only one to go. The way they’re playing, Wednesday fans will be wishing this season could just go on and on.

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Sheffield Wednesday: Beadle; Palmer, Iorfa. Bernard; Valentin, Vaulks, Bannan, Johnson; Windass, Musaba; Ugbo. Substitutes: Dawson, Pedersen, Diaby, Paterston, Famewo, Smith, Gassama, Cadamarteri, Diaby.

West Brom: Palmer; Furlong, Kipre, Bartley, Townsend; Yokusla, M’Vila; Phillips, Diangana, Johnston; Wallace. Substitutes: Griffiths, Ajayi, Maja, Chalobah, Swift, Reach, Thomas-Asante, Mowatt, Fellows.

Referee: G Scott (Oxford).