Brian Laws was delighted with the contribution of Etienne Esajas as the Dutchman played a key role in each of Wednesday's goals that defeated Cardiff City 3-1 on Saturday.

The winger opened the scoring within four minutes with a perfectly placed free kick before turning provider for Luke Varney and Leon Clarke in the second half.

"I thought Esajas was very good today I said to him before the game that he played with a bit of anger in his belly against Sheffield United and a bit of purpose," the Sheffield Wednesday manager said. "It was a good reaction because he had been waiting a while for his opportunity and was probably very frustrated.

"I said 'you have probably earned the right to be in the starting eleven but don't spoil it by being clever or anything like that, play with that same anger in your belly and purpose'. He did that and I couldn't ask anything more of him than to contribute two goals and score another one. I was delighted with his contribution.

"The one thing that has been a downside for Etienne is that he has struggled for consistency but also been injured and lost that continuity. If he can be consistent then he can hurt the opposition and today he was exceptionally good."

The Owls boss did have to substitute Marcus Tudgay because of a neck problem but is hopeful that the striker will return for Tuesday's trip to Crystal Palace.

"It was touch and go whether Marcus Tudgay would start the game but that just shows the type of character Marcus is; he is prepared to go through the pain barrier," Laws said. "You could see he wasn't quite right. He got a bang in the back in training and it restricted his movement, he had some tightness in his neck so we thought it was important to take him off as he didn't look comfortable.

"We had quality on the bench today though and Leon Clarke came on to show that he is big and powerful and is capable of scoring goals."

After having only picked up one point from three games the previous week, Laws was more than happy to get back to winning ways against Dave Jones' side although he admitted the Bluebirds had started to threaten Wednesday before the break, having equalised through a penalty won by Michael Chopra and converted by Peter Whittingham from the spot.

"I couldn't ask for a better reaction to the disappointment of last week than to beat Cardiff, who are a team that is almost always around the top six. They are a good side so I am very pleased with today's result.

Laws continued: "After ten minutes I thought we should have been 3-0 up. We had three glorious opportunities to score and didn't take them. After that I thought Cardiff began to get a foothold in the game and I thought the goal Chopra had ruled offside was probably not offside. Maybe that was the wake-up call we needed though. I couldn't wait for half time to come because they were starting to overrun us a bit in midfield and I thought we applied ourselves better in the second half against their three-man midfield.

"Our second goal was the turning point because it gave us the extra incentive to go forward. They were committing themselves and we were able to exploit that space."

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