Joao joy as Owls put paid to Derby

TWO superbly struck efforts from Sheffield Wednesday striker Lucas Joao finally gave manager Jos Luhukay a taste of victory and halted Derby’s drive towards the Premier League.

The Owls, still searching for a first league win in the sixth game of their new manager’s reign, made the perfect start after 18 minutes when Joao, below, struck with a well-worked goal.

Adam Reach’s long ball into the Derby area picked out full-back Jack Hunt, who showed tidy control.

He paused before picking out Joao in space and the Portuguese striker did the rest, sweeping a perfect finish past the diving Scott Carson.

Wednesday had scored just twice in their previous five games under the Dutch manager and were without a league win since Boxing Day.

Yet the first half made a mockery of the form book with Derby’s approach play all too often petering out

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as they reached Wednesday’s area.

When Derby’s Andreas Weimann was presented with the best opening of the first half, from Chris Baird’s 38th-minute cross, all he could do was plant a disappointing header wide. If the first half had been less than fruitful for the Premier League hopefuls, the second started in even worse fashion when Joao doubled the Owls’ lead in the 47th minute.

He collected a long ball in a harmless position 35 yards from goal but quickly left Bradley Johnson for dead and advanced before depositing a magnificent finish into the far corner.

Joe Wildsmith was finally forced into action in the home goal, saving well from Weimann and Matej Vydra in quick succession.