Sheffield Wednesday's winless run continued on Saturday as high-flying Swansea left Hillsborough with all three points.

A first half double from Darren Pratley did the damage, although it's fair to say the scoreline flattered the Welsh side.

The Owls bossed the lion's share of play but just lacked the spark in the final third to unlock a resolute Swans backline.

And they were duly made to pay as Paulo Sousa's counter-attacking tactics reaped full reward on a bitterly cold afternoon in S6.

Wednesday, under the caretaker guidance of Sean McAuley following the departure of Brian Laws, fielded the same eleven that started the game at Leicester last week. The only changes to the squad were on the bench, where Francis Jeffers took the place of loanee Warren Feeney while Frank Simek came in for Michael Gray.

The early exchanges were even, with neither side looking particularly threatening until Swansea stole into the lead in the fifth minute. Gorka Pintado swivelled in midfield and sent Pratley racing through the middle to clip neatly across Lee Grant and into the back of the back of the Leppings Lane net.

The goal sparked the Owls into life and they twice came close to levelling inside a minute. First, Jermaine Johnson forced a flying save from Dorus De Vries, then Darren Purse's header from the resulting corner again brought the best out of the Swans' keeper.

Marcus Tudgay was a whisker away from getting on the end of Tommy Spurr's cross from the left as Wednesday continued to press but overall, the visitors looked relatively comfortable in soaking up the Owls' pressure.

Then ten minutes before the interval - and totally against the run of play - Swansea struck their second following a rare foray into the Owls' half. Andrea Orlandi fed Nathan Dyer down the left channel with a clever pass and Pratley was on hand to apply the finishing touch from the winger's low feed across the area.

The Owls introduced Jeffers for Sean McAllister at the start of the second period and the pattern of the first half continued - plenty of patient approach play by Wednesday but little in terms of end product.

Skipper Purse almost glanced a near-post header past De Vries but fell short on the connection and that chance just past the hour pretty much summed up the Owls' fortunes.

Luke Varney came in for Johnson with 20 minutes to go as Wednesday went for broke and Jeffers stabbed a low shot goalwards that was bravely blocked by Swansea captain Alan Tate.

But that was about as good as it got for the Owls, who huffed and puffed without reward while Swansea stood firm and did what they had to do cement their place in the top six.

Owls: Grant, Buxton (Simek 54), Purse, Beevers, Spurr, Johnson (Varney 70), Potter, O'Connor, McAllister (Jeffers 46) Clarke, Tudgay

Unused substitutes: O'Donnell, Hinds, Esajas, Soares

Swansea: De Vries, Williams, Tate, Pratley, Orlandi, Van Der Gun, Dyer (Butler 75), Lopez (Serran 84), Pintado (Bauza 89), Bassone, Rangel

Unused substitutes: Cornell, Trundle, Allen, Cotterill

Referee: Oliver Langford

Attendance: 18,329