Sheffield Wednesday's shortcomings at either end against Coventry City leave them unable to break their Championship glass ceiling - the final word

If they play well, they end the day in the Championship's top half. Play badly – top half. Never the play-offs.

They broke into the top 12 on December 1 and have started every week since there, but never above ninth, where they sit after a nonsensical 2-1 defeat to Coventry City.

It does not help when they get so much right yet still contrive to lose. It was their fault they did not score the goals to reflect their play, and both Coventry’s were their fault.

With their squad, wage bill, transfer budget, 21st Century history and especially more recent past, a top-10 finish would be a job very well done.

But so many of the reasons the Owls are punching above their weight are down to one of English football’s most exciting young coaches. How long is Danny Rohl going to hang around at a club locked out of the play-off positions?

He is probably only still at Hillsborough because Wednesday still have some characteristics of a big club yet too often they think small. You can too often see it on and even in the worn-out pitch.

"Except for the conceded goals we did everything right – front foot, high intensity, a lot of shots, we created a lot of opportunities, set pieces, ball possession, front-foot defending, on the pitch, from the bench, I cannot blame anything," insisted Rohl.

Well, not quite.

Although Saturday's defining error came from a young goalkeeper, James Beadle, whose outstanding save 20 minutes earlier showed what a bright future he has, the biggest shortcomings were up front.

Valentine’s weekend was a bad time to have trouble with the misses.

Ike Ugbo looks like he would struggle to finish his dinner at the moment, never mind one of the chances he would have gobbled during his hot spell on loan last season.

Rohl was pushing for a new centre-forward in the transfer window, although in fairness in the summer he was pushing for Ugbo, who has not scored a league goal since. Ugbo was by no means the only culprit as Owls players had 22 efforts at goal without scoring any, but the spotlight is harshest on him.

Unable to score, Joel Latibeaudiere inadvertently did it for the hosts.

If they had been more ruthless, the second goal Beadle gifted Ellis Simms by dropping a high ball at his feet would have been a consolation.

Luck was not always with Ugbo, so close to stretching to a Djiedi Gassama shot going wide, but he did not help himself. Three minutes later he allowed Oliver Dovin to beat his strike away at the near post.

One shot when found by Stuart Armstrong was shanked so badly it became a cross.

Ugbo was in a great position when Barry Bannan – a surprise starter after injury – found him in the 40th minute, but his control allowed a defender to jump in.

When Michael Smith replaced him there was a marked improvement, but still no goal.

Left winger Svante Ingelsson was played through in the sixth minute by a great Bannan pass but he also allowed Dovin to save.

In the 14th minute Bannan found Ingelsson in space in the area, but again Dovin denied him. He was substituted at half-time.

Gassama and others also racked up the misses before and after Marvin Johnson flashed in a cross Dovin touched onto Latibeaudiere and in.

Pour Joel, le taxi.

His equaliser left half-an-hour to win it but had no effect on the Owls' confidence in front of goal.

Ibrahim Cissoko and Shea Charles fell over in the box seconds apart but you would not have banked on the hosts scoring from 12 yards even had referee John Busby obliged.

But if a lack of ruthlessness at one end is costing the Owls, so is their generosity at the other.

Jack Rudoni had far too much space to cross in the 16th minute and Simms outmuscled makeshift centre-back Max Lowe to take the ex-Huddersfield Town midfielder into double-figure assists this season.

Rohl wanted a centre-back too.

"This is the big, big difference between the top four and us," reflected Rohl. "They defend better."

Beadle got lucky twice in a wobbly spell late in first half.

When he spilt Rudoni's shot, he got his face near enough Sims’ sliding boot for the goal to be disallowed, then Charles cleared a goalbound effort as he left his line without dealing with the delivery.

But his diving save from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's 73rd-minute header was one of his best all season, a high bar.

Beadle has had far more excellent than execrable moments but dropping the ball to Sims in the 92nd minute was a shocker, the second Saturday running a stoppage-time goal condemned his side to a 2-1 loss.

At times you wonder if that next step is beyond this club.

Sheffield Wednesday: Beadle; Valery, Ihiekwe, M Lowe, Johnson; Charles; Gassama (Cissoko 82), Armstrong (J Lowe 70), Bannan, Ingelsson (Windass HT); Ugbo (Smith 55). Unused substitutes: Palmer, Paterson, Valentin, Otegbayo, P Charles.

Coventry City: Dovin; Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching; van Ewijk, Eccles (Allen 70), Grimes, Dasilva (Bidwell 73); Rudoni (Mason-Clark 70); Thomas-Asante (Sakamoto 58), Simms. Unused substitutes: Binks, Paterson, Borges Rodrigues, Bassette, Collins.

Referee: J Busby (Oxfordshire).