Wednesday suffered their first defeat at Hillsborough for nearly three months despite having by far the greater number of chances against league leaders Birmingham City. The Owls dominated the first period and continued to press forward after the break but Stephen Clemence's goal against the run of play and second half strikes by Gary McSheffrey and Cameron Jerome sealed the points for the visitors.

It was a clash between two of the Championship's form sides. Both had suffered just one defeat in ten games, a run that had taken Birmingham to the top of the table and Wednesday to the fringes of the play-off race. There was similarity in the team news too, with both managers being forced into one change through suspension - Mehdi Nafti coming into the visitors' midfield in place of Fabrice Muamba and Yoann Folly replacing Glenn Whelan for the Owls.

Wednesday had won five of their previous six home matches and showed the confidence they had gained from that run right from kick-off. It was Brian Laws' men who did all the attacking in the opening 35 minutes, with the powerful presence of Jerome the Blues' sole attacking threat in the early stages. Marcus Tudgay was first to go close for the Owls, being played in by Deon Burton ten yards out. But the ball wouldn't drop for him and Radhi Jaidi made enough of a nuisance of himself to cause Tudgay to slice his shot for a throw-in.

Burton himself had three glorious chances to add to his winner at Norwich last Saturday. After 15 minutes he got goalside of his marker but headed Frank Simek's cross wide from six yards out. Seventeen minutes later his header was cleared off the line by Nafti after Tudgay flicked on Chris Brunt's corner. Then Burton turned on a low Wayne Andrews cross but saw Maik Taylor pull off an excellent reflex save; Brunt blazed the rebound over.

In between Burton's first two efforts, Taylor was forced to parry Brunt's long range shot and was relieved to see Andrews' left-footed volley deflected for a corner as Wednesday dominated the opening stages. But totally against the run of play, the visitors stole the lead out of nothing. Jerome fired in a wicked swerving shot from 30 yards, which Mark Crossley could only parry in front of him. Clemence was first on the scene and stabbed a bobbling shot into the empty net from ten yards.

Wednesday began the second half determined to stay on the front foot and went close soon after the restart, when Bullen headed Kenny Lunt's free-kick wide. Then Tudgay was presented with an even better opportunity, chesting down Bullen's pass bbut shooting into the side-netting from a narrow angle. However, Birmingham were having a much greater share of possession and, after Nicklas Bendtner shot over from 20 yards, the Owls were relieved when Bullen deflected Sebastian Larsson's shot wide after it seemed Jerome had previously run the ball out of play.

The game hinged on a crucial three-minute period just after the hour mark. Wednesday should have been level on 62 minutes when Bougherra made a tremendous burst into the penalty area and squared the ball to Burton inside the six yard box. The striker's shot was blocked by Taylor and, for the second time in the game, Brunt blasted the rebound over. The importance of that miss was soon emphasised when City scored their second. The Owls were hoping for an offside flag when the ball was played to McSheffrey on the left wing but the striker was allowed to carry on and proceeded to fire a powerful shot into the far corner from a narrow angle.

Far from accepting their fate, Wednesday continued to show the spirit that had taken them to seven wins from ten games. Bullen's header was cleared off the line by Larsson and Taylor was forced into smart saves from Tudgay and Steven MacLean. Then Tudgay managed to kick Brunt's corner against his own left leg from a yard out.

The Owls were forced to play the closing stages with ten men and Bullen in goal as, after using all three substitutes, Crossley was forced off with a hamstring injury. The Scot beaten by Jerome four minutes into injury time after poor home defending as the Blues made off with the points at the end of an unfortunate afternoon for the Owls.

Wednesday (4-4-2): Crossley; Simek, Bougherra, Bullen, Spurr; Andrews (MacLean 45+1), Folly (Talbot 76), Lunt, Brunt; Tudgay, Burton (O'Brien 76). Subs: Adamson, Coughlan.

Birmingham (4-4-2): Taylor; Kelly, Jaidi, Upson, Sadler; Larsson (Danns 85), Nafti, Clemence, McSheffrey (Kilkenny 85); Jerome, Bendtner (Campbell 90). Subs: Doyle, Taylor.

Attendance: 26,083

Referee: Graham Laws

Booked: McSheffrey (foul) 39 mins, Bendtner (unsporting conduct) 55 mins, Larsson (foul) 76 mins, Upson (foul) 80 mins, Jerome (unsporting behaviour) 90+4 mins