Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 Hull City: Owls impress with dominant win over 10-man Tigers

Sheffield Wednesday’s upturn in form under new boss Danny Rohl continued with a dominant 3-1 win over 10-man Hull City in the Championship.

The Owls broke the deadlock early in the second half when Marvin Johnson thundered in a shot at the near post from a tight angle and Gassama doubled the lead with a fine effort from 25 yards soon after.

Josh Windass made it 3-0 with a controlled half-volley from the edge of the box before Scott Twine pulled a goal back from the penalty spot for the Tigers.

The win was Wednesday’s fifth in their last eight games and sees them go above Queens Park Rangers into 22nd place in the Championship.

They are now three points from safety, while Hull drop out of the play-off places into seventh.

Wednesday played throughout with a confidence that belied their league position as Gassama and Anthony Musaba on the opposite wing created some good early chances – Windass had a header saved and Hull’s defenders were forced into a number of last-ditch clearances.

The Tigers created very little with 11 men, and the likely outcome seemed to be sealed the moment Liverpool loanee Morton was red-carded – the 21-year-old went in forcefully to take out Gassama as he won the ball, and the challenge was deemed reckless by referee Darren Bond.

Johnson smashed the Owls ahead three minutes after the break as the ball fell to him after Cyrus Christie had appeared to foul Ashley Fletcher, before he controlled a Barry Bannan crossfield pass and played in Gassama whose powerful curling right-footed effort nestled in the bottom corner

It could have bene 3-0 four minutes later when Fletcher headed over a Gassama cross, but the Owls did not have long to wait for the third as Windass showed great technique to score after a cross was poorly headed away.

Hull gave their travelling fans something to cheer when Twine smashed home his penalty after Michael Ihiekwe was penalised for a handball – but it was their only effort on target in the entire game.

Wednesday could have gone further in front when Gassama wasted a chance after cutting in from the left, but the final-whistle atmosphere showed the home fans believe a side who were 12 points from safety after one win in their first 18 games could soon be out of the relegation places under Rohl.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:

“I think when you look back, when we played 11 against 11 it was a fantastic game, both teams wanted to play forward, both teams had good solutions with the ball.

“But then it’s always not easy to play against 10 because it’s a different game – they stay a little bit deeper and you need a good counter-press and the big topic at half time was that we needed intensity and energy.

“This was the key and we came with good energy in the second half and were immediately on the front foot and it was fantastic from the team.

“When you look back at the last two weeks I think for everybody it was a hard time, a lot of games, we had a lot of injuries and suspensions but we did well and I’m very proud of my team again.

Hull City head coach Liam Rosenior told BBC Radio Humberside:

“I’m down. We came into the game with confidence from the Blackburn game and we didn’t start the game in our normal way. We made mistakes and I think we were mentally tired, maybe I should have rotated the team.

“It’s difficult enough playing four games in 10 days to then try and play 60 minutes with 10 men in this stage of the season is a really tough ask.

“I understand why from the referee’s position why he’s made that decision. But when you see it from a different angle you understand why that’s happened – it looks two-footed and he’s gone over the ball from Darren’s position on the pitch.

“He hadn’t. It’s a really soft one and it’s something that we’re going to look at appealing because for Tyler to lose three games of his season based on that, I think, is quite harsh.”