Sheffield Wednesday ran out 4-2 winners against Blackburn
STEVE Bruce admitted his Sheffield Wednesday side could have made it easier for themselves, but was pleased overall with their win against Blackburn Rovers.
Steven Fletcher, Atdhe Nuhiu, Dominic Iorfa and Marco Matias scored for Wednesday with Craig Conway and Elliott Bennett on target for the visitors.
Fletcher struck in the 10th minute to put the hosts ahead, applying a close-range finish after meeting Iorfa’s low cross.
As Wednesday continued to press, Michael Hector headed against David Raya’s left-hand post from an Adam Reach cross.
Nuhiu, who had joined the action just two minutes earlier, made it 2-0 on the hour-mark when he got on the end of a Barry Bannan free-kick, directing his header beyond Raya.
Blackburn pulled a goal back 12 minutes later when Rothwell squared to Conway inside the area and he fired confidently past Westwood.
Five minutes later Iorfa restored the home side’s two-goal advantage after Bannan’s freekick caused problems for the Blackburn defence.
Marco Matias scored Wednesday’s fourth in the 86th minute, applying the finish following good work from Bannan. Raya got a hand to the ball, but only succeeded in diverting it into the net.
Bennett scored Blackburn’s second goal in the 88th minute after finding himself in space inside the area, but they failed to stage a late comeback.
Bruce said: “To score four was great and we’ve got to be happy., although we went a bit sloppy towards the end and we nearly got punished.
“We went deep too quickly and I wish we hadn’t conceded the way we did. We should have made it more comfortable than we did, but overall I’m delighted.
“It’s fair to say we got our goals at the right time. Blackburn are a threat and they caused us problems.
“It was a horrendous afternoon – the conditions made it very difficult for the players.
‘Unfortunately, Steven Fletcher has got a groin injury and Sam Hutchinson has got a hamstring so considering the problems that we’ve had, you’ve got to give credit to the lads who are playing week in, week out. They’ve done remarkably well.
“We’ve given ourselves a chance and we’ve taken steps towards it. It should be a fascinating end to the season.”
Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray said: “There were lots of positives for us.
“The very obvious problem for us is that we have a team of kids at the back at the moment. We’ve got three international central defenders missing and the left-back is not available.
“Steven Fletcher and Nuhiu have physicality in the box from dead balls which hurt us. Apart from that, we performed pretty well and gave them lots of problems.
“We could have scored lots of goals, but what we couldn’t do was deal with their free-kicks into the box because we’ve got no physicality, which makes it very difficult.
“We have to accept that and we’ll be stronger in a couple of weeks when hopefully Mulgrew, Rodwell and Lenihan are fit.”