SUPER HOOPER IS WEDNESDAY HERO
ADOUBLE from striker Gary Hooper helped Sheffield Wednesday overcome the loss of goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, much to the relief of assistant manager Lee Bullen.
Hooper, who joined from Norwich on a permanent deal last month, struck twice in three minutes to help the Owls overturn Clayton Donaldson’s opener.
The match was less than ten minutes old when Wednesday suffered the double blow of losing both Westwood and Sam Hutchinson following chaos at a Birmingham corner.
Westwood was carried off after a collision with team-mate Tom Lees and taken straight to hospital while Lewis Price took over between the posts, with Hutchinson replaced five minutes later.
“Westwood has taken a real sore one trying to get a block in,” said Bullen. “He’s got a sore neck and an egg on his head but he’s going to be OK, he’s sitting up again.
“We started the game really, really well. Injuries hindered us a little bit until we could get ourselves going again. Birmingham got a foothold in the game and caused us some problems.
“We’ve got good, good players and good players usually find a way somewhere along the line.
“The first goal was fantastic with some sublime one-touch play and to go in and get the second goal we’re ecstatic.”
Neither side appeared to pay any heed to the sodden pitch and continual downpour as the match proceeded at a frenetic pace.
Hooper broke down the inside right channel and fired a low shot straight at goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak who failed to hold it, conceding a corner that was wasted.
Later in the half the same player would find the side-netting after Barry Bannan read his intelligent run across the box and picked him out.
At the other end Jon Toral was causing problems. Price was relieved to see his shot from long range go just wide of the target and then the midfielder picked out Donaldson and Wednesday’s substitute keeper had to be at his best to keep him out.
Birmingham took the lead deep into first-half injury time as a free-kick was sent long and Lees could only watch in dismay as his attempted clearance deflected off Michael Morrison and into the path of Donaldson, who fired it into the far corner.
Early in the second half Price was called into action again to parry Donaldson’s header into the path of Will Buckley who flicked it over the bar.
However, it was Wednesday who were dominating as City dropped deeper and deeper.
Substitute Atdhe Nuhiu laid off the ball on the edge of the area for Hooper to take one touch and then smash an equalising goal into the top corner. It was a deserving finish to a lovely passage of one-touch passing from the visitors.
Two minutes later Wednesday got their winner when the same player was left with a simple tap-in after Fernando Forestieri squared the ball across goal.
Birmingham boss Gary Rowett said: “It is incredibly frustrating, not least because we started really well.
“The injuries took the impetus out of the game but we got it back really well and, apart from a couple of counterattacks, really dominated that first half in terms of possession and chances.
“We were pleased at half-time, but perhaps we needed a little more to stop the game becoming too open at times. It was a difficult game to play in for the players and too open.
“When you have the attacking players that Sheffield Wednesday have got then they might only need one chance.”