Owls 1-2 Blackburn
Wednesday lost out by the odd goal in three after an entertaining contest with Blackburn at Hillsborough.Despite bossing most of the game, the Owls were punished for conceding two early goals from Jordan Rhodes and Adam Henley.
Chris Maguire halved the deficit in the second half but the hosts gave themselves too high a mountain to climb and went down to a determined Rovers side.
With back to back wins under the belt, the Owls began in confident mood and almost struck after just five minutes when Will Keane turned on the proverbial sixpence in the box but Jason Steele was well placed to gather.
Wednesday continued to move forward only to be hit by a sucker punch on 17 minutes.
A free kick was nodded on into the path of Rhodes, who timed his run to perfection and stabbed past Keiren Westwood.
Eight minutes later, it was nearly two when dangerman Rhodes glanced a firm header towards the bottom corner but Westwood was down sharply to prevent a quick-fire brace.
The Owls keeper could do little, though, on 26 minutes when Blackburn did double their advantage after ex-Wednesday loanee Ben Marshall had hit the crossbar direct from a corner.
The next attack saw Henley charge in on goal from the angle and calmly poke across the advancing Westwood to give the visitors a comfortable cushion.
Then, to compound a miserable first half, Wednesday lost skipper Jose Semedo to injury six minutes before the break, after which they needed a lift.
The Owls survived a penalty scare just after the restart when Chris Taylor went to ground under a challenge from Claude Dielna – which might have proved the turning point of the match.
After a fierce bout of pressure, the Rovers rearguard gave way on the hour as substitute Maguire slammed home following a goalmouth scramble in front of the Kop.
It was one-way traffic thereafter as time and again the ball was launched into the Blackburn box and only some heroic defending kept the Owls at bay.
Wednesday had a penalty shout of their own with eight minutes to go when Henley tangled with substitute Stevie May but the referee was equally unimpressed.
Still the Owls pushed – Matt Kilgallon did remarkably well to block a Maguire screamer - but there was no way through and Rovers held out to take the points home across the Pennines.
Owls: Westwood, Hutchinson, Semedo (Maguire 40), Palmer, Nuhiu, Zayatte (Helan 46), Maghoma (Maghoma 61), Dielna, McGugan, Keane
Blackburn: Steele, Henley, Spurr, Kilgallon, Brown, Rhodes, Marshall, Williamson, Taylor, Henry, Spearing