Wednesday’s grim start to the season continued at Plymouth as the hosts emerged 3-0 winners.
Two late first half goals from Mustapha Bundu and Morgan Whittaker proved the Owls’ real undoing, yet up to that point the methods of Danny Röhl were paying dividends as his new charges took the game to Argyle and largely dominated.
But Wednesday could not recover from the double blow, Plymouth were rejuvenated and went on to add a third through Ryan Hardie.
Röhl made two changes from Saturday’s trip to Watford, with Lee Gregory leading the line on his 100th Owls appearance and George Byers also included from the start.
It was at the other end of the pitch, though, where dangerman Whittaker came close to drawing first blood, taking possession just outside the area and curling a sweet shot that cannoned off the far post.
Wednesday were undaunted and bossed the ball for extended periods. Anthony Musaba took a clever ball from Josh Windass in his stride down the right and drilled a low cross that evaded both Gregory and Barry Bannan by inches.
Then the Dutchman delivered a smart pullback from which Gregory got good purchase but could not keep his fierce drive down.
If the breakthrough was coming, it seemed it would go the way of Wednesday – only for Plymouth to score twice in as many minutes on the stroke of half time.
First, Bundu lined up a free kick 20 yards out and the strike was unstoppable, rattling the underside of the crossbar with the aid of a slight deflection and bouncing high into the net.
And moments after the restart, with barely time for Wednesday to regroup, a defensive mix-up allowed Whittaker to race in on goal and calmly finish beyond Cameron Dawson.
It was tough on the Owls, who hardly deserved to be 2-0 down, and Plymouth duly went for the kill.
Finn Aziz thought he had put the game out of reach five minutes into the second half and only an unorthodox clearance off the line from Bambo Diaby denied the on-loan midfielder.
Aziz dragged wide before Dawson dived low to keep out the same player from distance before Plymouth did put the game to bed on 76 minutes.
The busy Aziz advanced on goal, picking out Hardie on the angle, and the substitute made no mistake with a fizzing hit into the far corner to conclude a miserable night for Wednesday on the South Coast.
Wednesday: Dawson, Valentin, Iorfa, Diaby, Famewo, Byers, Bannan (Hendrick 78), Buckley (Smith 46), Windass, Musaba (Gassama 64), Gregory (Wilks 64)