Sheffield Wednesday returned to winning ways against Blackpool at Hillsborough to move further away from danger at the wrong end of the Championship table.

James O'Connor's third goal of the season just three minutes into the contest and a Darren Potter strike after the break was enough to seal the points on a bitterly cold night in S6.

The visitors showed plenty of guile and enterprise but lacked any real killer instinct and the Owls capitalised to seal an impressive fifth win from seven games under Alan Irvine.

The new SWFC manager kept faith with the same side that performed gallantly against high-flying Nottingham Forest on Saturday, despite the 2-1 defeat at the City Ground.

And after bossing the early exchanges, the Owls stormed into the lead. Luke Varney fed Tommy Spurr down the left flank and the defender did well to pick out the unmarked O'Connor, who leapt to head Wednesday into the lead from six yards.

Blackpool recovered well, though, and enjoyed neat pockets of possession, with just the final ball in and around the penalty area belying their confident approach play.

Keith Southern underlined the point on the 20-minute mark, weaving his way across the Owls' box but firing tamely into the Kop when more composure was required.

At the other end, Wednesday created little of note and when they did, the Tangerines' goal was unthreatened. Michael Gray curled an angled drive high and wide, which summed up both sides' fortunes in the final third, save O'Connor's early strike.



Blackpool upped the ante on 31 minutes when DJ Campbell went close from Stephen Dobbie's cross while Wednesday responded with Varney blasting over the bar after losing his marker on the edge of the penalty area.

The half time whistle signalled the end of a largely forgettable opening period but, as the business end of the season fast approaches, results can often outweigh the quality of performance, which right now is the order of the day for Wednesday.

And they were out of the traps seeking a second immediately after the resumption as Potter went close but Paul Rachubka saved well after the midfielder's drive from distance was deflected goalwards.

But four minutes later, Potter went one better and the Owls did double their lead. Varney was the architect once more as the loanee striker picked out Potter loitering just outside the box and following a neat shimmy, the latter struck a low shot past Rachubka and into the net off the far post.

Wednesday went pushing for a third to finish Blackpool off and Varney almost got it on 67 minutes. The in-form striker started a move down the left flank with a clever dummy to let in Soares, whose return pass found Varney. The Derby man did everything right in shooting across Rachubka but the keeper dived full length to push away for a corner.

Blackpool had nothing to lose and pushed on towards the closing stages and Frank Simek denied them at least one goal with two brave last-ditch blocks.

For all their possession, though, Ian Holloway's side were lacking in the final third and the Wednesday rearguard held firm to help the hosts to another valuable win.

Owls: Grant, Simek, Beevers, Purse, Spurr, Soares, Potter, O'Connor, Gray, Tudgay, Varney (Clarke 77)

Unused substitutes: Jameson, Hinds, McAllister, Lekaj, Boden, Esajas

Blackpool: Rachubka, Baptiste, Edwards, Butler, Crainey, Southern (Husband 86), Euell, Vaughan (Bangura 86), Taylor-Fletcher, Campbell, Dobbie (Burgess 77)

Unused substitutes: Gilks, Evatt, Martin, Almond, Husband

Referee: Geoff Eltringham

Attendance: 19,058