Sheffield Wednesday vs Hull City. Sky Bet Championship.
HillsboroughAttendance24,842.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at Hillsborough
Wednesday 1 January 2020 19:20, UK
Jarrod Bowen struck the only goal as Hull began the new decade with a 1-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday and condemned the hosts to a third straight defeat.
Wednesday had the majority of chances to score but they failed to capitalise on them and Bowen's second-half goal was enough to give Grant McCann's men all three points as they made it eight wins out of their last 14 Championship outings.
Wednesday manager Garry Monk restored Julian Borner and Atdhe Nuhiu to the starting line-up while top scorer Steven Fletcher was named among the substitutes after recovering from injury.
The first effort of the match came from Wednesday's Barry Bannan, who volleyed wide.
The hosts threatened again early on when Kadeem Harris' ball into the area was met by Sam Winnall, who put his first-time effort over.
There was a great chance for Hull to score when Matthew Pennington connected with Kamil Grosicki's corner at the far post but was unable to direct the ball on target.
Grosicki then put a free-kick on target but it was comfortably saved by Cameron Dawson.
Adam Reach wasted a good opening for the home side when he got on the end of a Harris low cross, failing to make a proper connection and firing wide.
Pennington then came to Hull's rescue, clearing a shot from Harris off the line.
The Wednesday line-up showed a change in attack at the start of the second half with Fletcher taking over from Nuhiu.
And it was a move that nearly paid dividends as Fletcher was soon in the thick of the action, with his effort hitting the post after he got on the end of a Bannan corner.
Monk made another attacking change just before their hour-mark, sending on Jordan Rhodes in place of Winnall.
But Bowen struck after 61 minutes to put the visitors in front, drilling a hard, low shot past Dawson after a good ball in from George Honeyman.
Grosicki threatened to add a second shortly afterwards, firing over from inside the area.
Fletcher fired narrowly wide after winning a free-kick inside the 'D' and Rhodes put a near post header beyond the far post as Wednesday looked to draw level.
Murphy played a searching ball into the area in the closing stages of the match but it just evaded Fletcher who was at full stretch in the middle.
Sheffield Wednesday's Garry Monk: "I'm not happy at all. I think the over-riding feeling is that it's been a poor week from us. If you go back to the two weeks before, there were a lot of positives and a lot of good stuff with results showing what we're capable of.
"But then, within a week, three defeats. Of course that's not good enough. I feel angry about that and disappointed and all the emotions that you would expect. We haven't done enough this week to get on the right side of those margins. There's a lot of food for thought for me."
Hull's Grant McCann: "I thought it was a controlled performance. We didn't get rushed and we didn't get fazed. We looked dangerous when we went forward and I'm really pleased with the group because Sheffield Wednesday tried to knock us, even when we got to the stadium.
"When we got the stadium they made me park 10 minutes away in the car, which was strange. Any manager that comes to our stadium can park right out the front. They turned all the plugs off in the changing room so we didn't have music. There was a lot of things before the game.
"They tried to put us off. Hospitality here wasn't very good, I have to say. Stewards were arguing with my staff before the game and it was ridiculous to be honest with you. If you come to the KCOM Stadium you couldn't be more looked after. It was really sad to be honest with you that people can do that to the opposition team. These things are here to test you but we got our head down and worked hard. We got the job done."
