Verdict: Carvalhal looks ahead to Wolves after Sheffield Wednesday wilt

On target: Jordan Rhodes found the net against Norwich City but ended up on the losing side as the Owls collapsed. (Picture: Steve Ellis)

Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal has labelled Friday night's home game with Championship pace-setters Wolves a '˜must-win' game after the Owls fell further off the promotion pace.

Wednesday led at half-time against Norwich, but surrendered three goals in a poor second half.

The defeat stretches their winless run in the league to five games and leaves them languishing in lower mid-table, 10 points off the play-off positions.

A worrying statistic for the Owls is that they have won only once against any of the 10 sides below them.

This sequence should suggest they have a better chance of upsetting a Wolves side that were held to a goalless draw by Sunderland on Saturday.

But the odds will be stacked firmly against the Owls given how well Wolves have performed this season, not that this was detracting from the importance placed on the fixture by under-pressure Carvalhal in the wake of a dispiriting defeat to Norwich in the Saturday tea-time kick-off.

“It’s a case of focusing on the next game against Wolves, which, like all games, we will be going all out to win,” said the Portuguese.

“That is always my target.”

Wednesday had led at the break courtesy of a close range header from Jordan Rhodes, but James Maddison got the home side back on level terms early in the second half.

Norwich quickly got their noses in front when an unmarked Timm Klose headed home from a corner.

Nelson Oliveira sealed the win with a stoppage-time penalty after Harrison Reed had been fouled.

Carvalhal felt his side were punished for switching off at the back. “The moment of the game was their first goal – that changed everything,” he said.

“When you are winning you should never get caught on the counter-attack, but that is what happened.

“The players showed a lot of quality in the first half, but they compromised everything in that moment.

“As a manager it is not something you want to see. The instructions at half-time were to stay solid and go looking for a second, but we allowed them to score on the break, which is disappointing.”

Norwich City: Gunn, Pinto, Hanley, Klose, Stiepermann, Reed, Vrancic, Murphy (Watkins 46), Maddison (Zimmermann 90), Pritchard (Trybull 79), Oliveira. Unused substitutes: Jerome, Hoolahan, Wildschut, McGovern.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood, Palmer, Loovens, van Aken, Fox (Nuhiu 78), Wallace, Jones (Lee 69), Bannan, Reach, Rhodes, Hooper. Unused substitutes: Butterfield, Lucas Joao, Wildsmith, Pudil, Venancio.

Referee: J Linington (Isle of Wight).