Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Barnsley: Owls secure derby win to move into play-off spots

Sheffield Wednesday moved back into the Sky Bet Championship play-off places with a 2-0 South Yorkshire derby win over Barnsley at Hillsborough.

The visitors were the better side for much of a dour first half, but fell behind when Angus MacDonald put the ball past his own goalkeeper.

Wednesday came out with renewed belief in the second period as they began to play with more purpose, but Barnsley continued to pose problems, and it was only when Sam Hutchinson fired home with 10 minutes remaining that the result was put beyond doubt.

Hutchinson was then involved in an incident that saw Barnsley substitute Adam Hammill and manager Paul Heckingbottom sent off as a fiery second period provided a stark contrast to the first 45 minutes.

For a local derby the game began at a sluggish pace, with Wednesday left-back Daniel Pudil blasting high and wide in the second minute. Conor Hourihane was similarly off-target for the visitors from 20 yards after a well-worked free-kick routine, while keeper Keiren Westwood rushed out well to deny Tom Bradshaw after some woeful defending saw the Barnsley forward race clear.

Steven Fletcher headed an Adam Reach corner wide and then wriggled clear in the box after 36 minutes but dithered over his shot and the opportunity passed.

It did not matter, however, as a minute later a suitably scruffy goal gave the home side the breakthrough. Lucas Joao out-jumped the Barnsley defence and his flick was inadvertently turned into his own net by MacDonald.

Bradshaw wasted his second glorious opportunity of the game five minutes after half-time when he headed over Ryan Kent's free-kick from six yards.

Sam Morsy then saw his shot blocked after good work from Sam Winnall and Kent as the away side started the second period impressively. The home side responded, with substitute Ross Wallace playing in Reach, whose cut-back was hacked away for a corner, before Fletcher failed to trouble Adam Davies with a header from Pudil's searching pass.

Barry Bannan tested Davies from the edge of the box on the hour mark, but the visiting keeper was equal to it, before Fletcher and Liam Palmer contrived not to score after Reach's excellent work down the left.

Winnall's miscued effort after 63 minutes fell kindly for Bradshaw, but the Welshman's effort lacked the power to beat Westwood. Tom Lees should have put the game to bed with 20 minutes remaining but fired wide from Wallace's corner when the ball fell to him six yards out.

The lively Kent fired high and wide at the other end as he snatched at James Bree's cross, but Hutchinson converted from 12 yards following a Wallace corner to double Wednesday's lead.

Barnsley sub Hammill was then sent off for a challenge on Hutchinson that sparked brawls both on the pitch and the touchline, with visiting boss Heckingbottom sent to the stands. Kieran Lee could have made it three late on but he narrowly failed to connect with Fletcher's header back across goal.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal:

"Let me give congratulations to my players, the way they played the game - they did a fantastic job. Second, let me tell you this Barnsley team is a very tough team to play against. They're special away; they're very, very dangerous.

"The more respect that I can talk about Barnsley is that this is one of the first times that I've changed the system - we played differently today because we must control them and block them. It was important to block them because they play with two attackers."

Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom:

"I'm disappointed, obviously. I'm satisfied with the performance and the application of the players. I thought we were good from the first to the last minute. You get what you deserve and Wednesday won 2-0, they deserved to win because they took their chances.

"My frustration is I saw the ref give Sam (Hutchinson) a red card, and then I knew Adam had been sent off, but it wasn't until I got upstairs that I realised Wednesday had 11 men. I know I saw him give him a red card.

"I think me and Bully will end up suffering for mismanagement. When you turn around after an incident and there's four or five of their staff in your technical area and the fourth official trying to get them out it's only going to end one way."