Hooper brace sees off Leeds for super Owls
GARY Hooper scored twice as Sheffield Wednesday put a disappointing week behind them with a 3-0 victory over Yorkshire rivals Leeds in the Sky Bet Championship.
Hooper struck twice in the first half and Kieran Lee added a third late on to lift the home crowd following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Sheffield United and Birmingham.
The hosts took control of the game with two goals. Ross Wallace’s freekick was headed down by Tom Lees and Hooper (25) provided the finishing touch from close range.
Lee was unfortunate to have an effort ruled out with television replays showing he should not have been given offside.
The second goal came when Liam Palmer delivered a deep cross which was headed back across the face of goal by Fletcher and Hooper (41) headed in off the inside of a post.
Leeds went close to reducing the arrears in the second half before Lee (82) added a third, beating the goalkeeper with a fine shot from just outside the ‘D’ after receiving Eunan O’Kane’s attempted clearance.
Wolves stormed into the automatic promotion places after a resounding 4-0 victory at struggling Burton.
Nuno’s side raced out of the blocks with two goals in the opening 11 minutes from Jota and Romain Saiss.
Ruben Vinagre added a third and Leo Bonatini put the game beyond any doubt after 62 minutes.
Burton have failed to score in five of their last six Championship games but second-placed Wolves are now just a point behind leaders Cardiff.
The Bluebirds were held to a 0-0 draw by Derby at the Cardiff City Stadium, but extended their unbeaten run in the league to four games.
Sheffield United failed to take advantage as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest and slipped down to third place.
John Lundstram gave the Blades the lead after just three minutes, but Jason Cummings equalised shortly after for Forest.
Kieran Dowell put the hosts in front in the 27th minute and United failed to find an equaliser as Forest ended a three-game losing streak.
Birmingham’s new boss Steve Cotterill watched on as the Blues fell to a comprehensive 6-1 defeat at Hull.
The Blues appointed Cotterill as Harry Redknapp’s successor on Friday, but Lee Carsley was left to take the team at the KCOM Stadium.
Fraizer Campbell opened the scoring early on and David Meyler converted an 11th-minute penalty after Campbell had been fouled in the area by Emilio Nsue.
Jarrod Bowen’s seventh of the season made it 3-0 to the Tigers after 26 minutes before Kamil Grosicki, Markus Henriksen and Seb Larsson completed the rout.
Cotterill, who took charge officially today, at least saw Sam Gallagher net a consolation in added time.