Fun in the sun as Wednesday hit 5
Sheffield Wednesday brought the curtain down on a frustrating season in style on Sunday, beating Norwich City 5-1 at Hillsborough.
Atdhe Nuhiu opened the scoring with a fine back post header after a sweeping move involving Joao, Forestieri and Reach. It was 2-0 by half-time as Forestieri pounced on a poor back pass to slide past the Canaries keeper.
Glenn Loovens received a standing ovation as he was substituted just before the break on what was his last appearance for the club.
The Owls continued to afford the visitors a lot of possession in the 2nd half but Norwich couldn’t make the most of the chances they created and were swept aside by clinical finishing. On-loan defender Frederico Venancio produced a well-controlled volley to make it 3-0 and moments later a mix up between the Norwich keeper and one of his defenders resulted in a cross falling into the path of Nuhiu with the goal gaping and he made it 4-0. Klose, up for a set piece, gave the Norwich fans a little cheer with a goal from close range in the final 10 minutes but there was still time for Nuhiu to put the icing on the cake, coolly slotting home a penalty to complete his hat-trick after Forestieri had but taken down.
The victory saw the Owls finish in 15th place in the Championship table. It has been a season of frustration that started slowly under Carlos Carvalhal and when he departed in December an already mounting injury list continued to grow. Jos Luhukay took the job in January and as key players like Fernando Forestieri, Barry Bannan and Tom Lees made their long-awaited return Wednesday belatedly started to show what they are capable of, winning 6 of their last 9 matches and scoring plenty of goals in the process.
It will doubtless be a summer of a few changes as always is the case in modern football but if the Owls can keep the core of their side and make a few key additions then they will be confident of kicking on again next season.