JOAO’S LATE STRIKE GIVES BRUCE LIFT-OFF
LUCAS Joao scored his third goal against Ipswich this season as Sheffield Wednesday won at Portman Road in Steve Bruce’s first game in charge of the Owls.
Portuguese striker Joao hit a brace as Wednesday defeated the Tractor Boys 2-1 at Hillsborough in August, and his 90th-minute winner secured all three points for the visitors after coming on as a substitute.
New Wednesday boss Steve Bruce said he thought it wasn’t going to be the Owls’ day.
He said: “When you miss so many chances, you think it’s going to be one of those days.
“We had five or six wonderful opportunities and didn’t take them and that always puts you under a bit of pressure.
“However, we were comfortable in the game. The goalkeeper in the end made the save from a header, that was the only attempt they had on goal.”
Bruce is delighted to be back in the dug-out after initially questioning whether he wanted to return to football following his sacking from Aston Villa.
“For a long time I was debating whether, after what happened, I still had the desire to warrant getting another job,” he added. “But once I got the phone call I couldn’t resist it. Because all of a sudden it’s what I do and I’m delighted to be back.
“I still think I’m a player, that never leaves you, but I’ve got the second best thing to being a player.
“I think it’s maybe the second time in 40 years that I’ve had a Christmas off. I just needed to recharge the batteries, dust myself down, and ask myself the question: ‘Do I still have the enthusiasm and drive that’s required to be a manager?’
“We haven’t been in the Premier League for 19 years, so let’s hope I can be the one.”
Ipswich remain eight points adrift of safety and Town boss Paul Lambert was without experienced centre-backs James Collins and Luke Chambers through injury.
He said: “Sheffield Wednesday were better than us in the first half, they should have been a couple of goals up, but we rode the storm.
“Second half we regrouped and got a foothold in it but the goal’s poor at that time of the game. Second half we made things happen rather than wait for things to happen.”
Adam Reach got past Myles Kenlock on the right and pulled the ball back for Joao to beat Bart Bialkowski from close range for the only goal.
Lambert said he thought Michael Hector’s challenge on Town striker Will Keane was a foul in the build-up to the winning strike.
“I thought there was, it’s a strong challenge but in the modern day game it’s a foul. So looking at it I think it’s a foul and that’s my view of it,” he said. “The referee’s in a good position to see it and he called the way he saw it but we still shouldn’t have lost the goal.
“Myles Kenlock should have done better, he’s a young lad learning his trade, he’s 21, he’ll learn from it.
“The second half was a lot better than what we were in the first half but that goal at the death was a blow.”
Town’s best chance came when a header from Trevor Chalobah was saved by Keiren Westwood in the 85th minute.