REPORT: Wednesday 2-0 Bristol City
The curtain came up on the new Championship campaign and Wednesday posted a resounding 2-0 win over newly-promoted Bristol City.Two second half goals from Tom Lees – his maiden conversion for the Owls – and Lewis McGugan rounded off a composed performance at Hillsborough.
But the score told only half the story as the Owls dominated throughout and were excellent value for the points.
A glorious afternoon in Sheffield saw the hosts come out of the traps with their intentions clear.
Attacking the Kop in the first half, Wednesday were in the driving seat and looked dangerous from the start.
McGugan and Atdhe Nuhiu linked up well to feed Marco Matias, who was a whisker away from close range contact.
Ross Wallace caused continual problems down the right flank, delivering a series of crosses that rang alarm bells in the City box.
One effort in particular almost bore fruit but Matias just failed to get a sweet connection after losing his marker.
The Robins’ responded with skipper Aaron Wilbrham forcing Keiren Westwood in action before the Owls countered in an instant and the busy Matias dragged narrowly wide.
But the best chance of the half fell to Alex Lopez, who was denied a debut goal from 12 yards by a fortunate deflection that took his fierce drive over the bar.
Wednesday continued their control after the break, with Jack Hunt proving a constant menace down the right flank.
But it was from the left where the Owls finally profited. The influential Wallace swung over a deep corner and Lees climbed high to power past Frank Fielding.
Then, on 70 minutes, the game turned completely in the Owls’ favour with two incidents in a minute and McGugan at the heart of both.
First, the midfielder cleared a Wes Burns header off the line before motoring upfield to get on the end of a teasing Wallace cross and put Wednesday 2-0 up and out of sight.
Wednesday: Westwood, Hutchinson, Loovens, Matias, Nuhiu (Joao 77(, McGugan, Lees, Helan, Lopez, Hunt (Palmer 89), Wallace (Lee 83)