Sheffield Wednesday returned to the play-off places on Tuesday evening with a 2-0 win at local rivals Rotherham. The home side produced a spirited start to the game, on the back of a good but ultimately fruitless 1-0 defeat to another promotion chasing team – Fulham on Saturday.
Despite the strong start to the game Rotherham produced little to threaten Westwood in the Owls goal and Wednesday then fortuitously took the lead through Fletcher. The Scotland striker appeared to be offside when he latched onto the ball inside the penalty area and swept the ball home at the near post.
That goal clearly knocked the stuffing out of the already relegated Millers and from then on the visitors were comfortable without having to be overly purposeful going forward.
The points were effectively wrapped up shortly before half-time when a fine first time cross from Hunt was powerfully headed home at the back post by Fletcher.
The former Hibernian striker almost had a hat-trick in the opening minute of the second-half but his poke towards goal was blocked by former Owls defender Wood. The Rotherham centre-back had a decent shout for a penalty with around 20 minutes to go but Wednesday, who brought on Semedo to conserve the legs of the returning Gary Hooper and see the game out, were never exposed defensively and eased to the 3 points.
With Fulham losing at Derby Carlos Carvalhal's side returned to the top 6 with 6 games to play. The Owls are only 3 points behind Leeds but Derby and Preston will also have hopes of pushing for a play-off place in the run in.