Sheffield Wednesday vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.
HillsboroughAttendance22,499.
Lucas Joao scores twice as Sheffield Wednesday win at Hillsborough.
Saturday 25 August 2018 18:54, UK
A Lucas Joao double gave Sheffield Wednesday a 2-1 win over 10-man Ipswich, whose goalscorer Aristote Nsiala was shown a straight red card in the second half.
The visitors kicked off against a Wednesday team who made two attacking changes to the team that beat Millwall at Hillsborough on Wednesday night, with Atdhe Nuhiu and Joao starting for the Owls.
Ipswich travelled to Hillsborough on the back of three away defeats in all competitions, the last one being a 2-0 defeat at Derby on Tuesday night. Paul Hurst also made two changes to his side, bringing in Kayden Jackson and Adetayo Edun.
It was Town who started the game brighter with early chances falling to Janoi Donacien and Jon Nolan, but neither would trouble Cameron Dawson in the Wednesday goal.
Wednesday muscled their way back into the contest though and were rewarded with the game's opening goal soon after. Joao (20) found himself on the end of a Barry Bannan corner at the back post, where he nodded home for his first goal of the season.
The goal re-sparked Ipswich's early dominance and they had Wednesday pinned back for much of the first half. Nolan, along with Ellis Harrison in midfield, looked to be the creative pair for Town but neither could find any sort of path through what was a solid Sheffield defence.
Ipswich were rewarded for their hard work shortly before the conclusion of the first half, when forward Nsiala (40) headed home the equaliser.
A cross from Gwion Edwards deflected up in the air and it was nodded on and into the box, where Nsiala was waiting to head home. The vast home crowd was infuriated after seeing the replay, where many claimed Nsiala was in an offside position when he scored.
Five minutes after the restart and the second half saw its first opportunity, with a speculative overhead kick from Town's Harrison from 12 yards out. The effort was saved by Dawson and immediately lumped the ball upfield to find Marco Matias. But with just the keeper to run at, Matias could not find the target.
Moments later Wednesday were through on goal again, when full-back Matt Penney was allowed to travel with the ball and pull it back for Bannan on the edge of the box, but the Scot's effort was blocked by Nsiala.
With 20 minutes of the match to play, Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay decided to bring on fans' favourite Fernando Forestieri, who had an immediate impact when he drew the foul, and the straight red card for Ipswich goalscorer Nsiala.
Referee Jeremy Simpson produced the red card straight away for what seemed to be a high showing of the studs from Nsiala, but again the decision was met with debate from the dugout.
Within minutes of the red card, Wednesday were back in front courtesy of the second goal of the game from Joao. It was another Bannan corner that gave Wednesday the lead for the second time when Joao (75) headed against the post before firing the rebound over the line.
Luhukay's Wednesday team stayed sharp in the final 15 minutes of play, and with the man advantage too. After four minutes of injury time, the referee blew his whistle on a deserved win for the home side.
Jos Luhukay: "[Joao] was an important player for us to win the game. He had hard work in training to come back and played well for us. It was a totally different game to Wednesday. Ipswich closed the lines and we lost a lot of balls. We had no combinations and no chances.
"The second half was better, we had two or three good chances to score the second goal, but the game was until the end very close. We must give a lot of energy and a lot of effort to get the three points."
Paul Hurst: "I don't feel I need to say anything. I've been told that their guys have said it's a totally wrong decision. Naturally it gives the opposition that lift, and it's not long after that they score.
"Even with 10 men I thought Wednesday were relieved for the final whistle - they weren't comfortable. We didn't have many scares in truth. It's another game where we can't give a true reflection of what's going on at the club."
