Norwich City 2-3 Sheffield Wednesday: Owls hit back in second half for stunning comeback win

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Sheffield Wednesday at Carrow Road on Tuesday night; Michael Ihiekwe, Josh Windass and Djeidi Gassama seal an astonishing second-half comeback win for Danny Rohl's Owls.

Tuesday 11 March 2025 23:26, UK

Sheffield Wednesday produced a superb second-half comeback to beat Norwich 3-2 at Carrow Road and keep their outside hopes of making the Championship play-offs alive.

Trailing 2-0 at the break to well-taken goals from Borja Sainz - his first since late November - and Ante Crnac, the Owls turned the game on its head by scoring three times in 12 minutes.

Defender Michael Ihiekwe set the ball rolling on 64 minutes by heading home from a corner and Josh Windass quickly equalised before setting up a dramatic winner for Djeidi Gassama.

The Owls moved two points above the hosts as a result, with the out-of-form Canaries now looking like an extreme long shot to finish in the top six.

Norwich were rewarded for an impressive first-half display as they went into the break two goals to the good.

Having survived an early scare when Shea Charles headed a Svante Ingelsson long throw inches over the bar, the Canaries quickly got into their stride and took the lead on 16 minutes with a well-worked goal from Sainz.

The Spanish winger had a clear sight of goal when Anis Slimane flicked a Callum Doyle pass into his path and fired hard and low past James Beadle for a long overdue 17th of the season.

The hosts doubled their advantage 10 minutes before the interval with another beautifully crafted goal which featured another assist from Slimane.

This time the Dane was picked out in space by Sainz and had the vision to square for an unmarked Crnac to finish emphatically from just outside the six-yard box.

Wednesday needed to up their game after barely threatening in the first half and head coach Danny Rohl made two changes at the break, with Michael Smith and Nathaniel Chalobah coming on.

The Owls certainly had more of the ball as the second half progressed and gave themselves a lifeline when they pulled one back in the 64th minute.

A corner from the left found the head of Ihiekwe in a surprising amount of space and the defender's effort took a big deflection to wrong-foot young keeper Vicente Reyes and trickle into the back of the net.

Wednesday now looked a different side and within 10 minutes they were level. Norwich were unable to clear their lines in a prolonged goalmouth scramble and the ball eventually fell for Windass who drilled home from eight yards out.

Remarkably the Owls then scored another in the 76th minute to turn the game completely on its head. This time Windass turned provider, getting to the byline on the right and sending over a low cross that provided Gassama with the simplest of close-range finishes.

The managers

Norwich's Johannes Hoff Thorup:

"In the first half we played some outstanding football and scored two beautiful goals but in the second we were not at the same level.

"We will not always be on top in games and when that happens you have to find a way of winning it. It's about the players learning what it takes to see it through.

"We had a great chance to make it 3-0 early in the second half but a game can change on one moment and we saw that tonight. After that we were too passive and it was too easy for them to create. It was not good enough.

"I am getting tired of the goals we are conceding to be honest. For the second we allowed the ball to bounce around in our area for far too long - it should have been kicked away long before they scored."

Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:

"We have 51 points, which makes us safe I should think, and now we can see how the rest of the season goes.

"We need to take it step by step. There are nine finals coming up, 27 points to play for, and we will see what direction our journey goes in. But at the moment we are only thinking about Sunday (a home game against local rivals Sheffield United).

"We were up against a good team tonight and very early on I could see we were a little bit slow in our mindset.

"I don't think anyone would have put a penny on us winning at half-time but I looked the players in the eyes and could see they still felt they could get something out of it. We changed our shape, bringing on another striker and pressing them higher up the pitch, and I was delighted with their response."