Sheffield Wednesday got their 2016/17 Championship campaign off to a positive start with 3 points against Aston Villa at Hillsborough, thanks to a late winning goal from Fernando Forestieri.
30,000 fans turned out to see two teams tipped for a promotion challenge and on a beautiful summer day in Sheffield it was the Owls who went home happy.
Wednesday fielded new signings Almen Abdi and Steven Fletcher as well as the returning Daniel Pudil while the visitors paired £12M striker Ross McCormack with Rudi Gestede.
Fletcher looked bright early on with some clever link up play and he almost had a dream debut goal but could not quite fully connect with an acrobatic bicycle kick and the effort went tamely wide.
Halfway through the first half the Scottish striker was forced out of the game after a clash of heads with Villa debutant Tommy Elphick left the striker with a nasty cut. Gary Hooper came on to replace him.
Villa's best chance of the half came when a swift break was orchestrated by Ayew but he could only place a soft header straight at Westwood when he met the cross on the run.
Forestieri almost put the Owls in front with half-time approaching but his curling effort landed agonisingly on the roof of the net. Tom Lees then met a corner with a header that was comfortably saved by Gollini in what was to be the last action of the half.
The Owls almost caught Villa cold after the break when a deep cross found Forestieri at the far past and his low drive was saved by Gollini with the ball just evading Abdi as it came back off the keeper into the penalty area.
From that point on Villa enjoyed their best spell of the match, forcing a number of corners, putting the home side on the back foot. Despite the pressure Villa were unable to force Westwood into a telling save. Gestede got a looping header on target but the was Wednesday keeper was more than equal to that then Ashley Westwood drove just wide from the edge of the box.
With the game opening up Forestieri was denied twice, once by a fine save from Gollini after the diminutive forward had worked space for a shot and then by an excellent last gasp tackle from Elphick.
At the other end Gestede's flick looked to have put McCormack clear but as the former Fulham man closed in on goal Hutchinson produced a fine recovery tackle.
Just as it looked as though both sides would have to settle for a point Forestieri came up with the winner with 5 minutes to go. A poor clearance from Gollini was pounced upon by Wednesday and Forestieri calmly slotted past the keeper.
The Owls saw the final few minutes out without any real alarm to get their season off to a fine start.