Sheffield Wednesday vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and West Bromwich Albion at Hillsborough on Saturday; Anthony Musaba hits 86th-minute winner as Danny Rohl's side sink the league leaders
Saturday 28 September 2024 18:27, UK
Substitute Anthony Musaba scored an 86th-minute winner to earn Sheffield Wednesday a dramatic 3-2 win at home to high-flying West Brom in the Championship.
The Baggies had fought back from two goals down as second-half efforts Josh Maja and Alex Mowatt cancelled out Darnell Furlong's own goal and a Josh Windass header, but Musaba's late strike ended their unbeaten start to the campaign.
The victory was Wednesday's first in the league since the opening day of the season.
The Wednesday line-up showed two changes, with Ike Ugbo and Michael Ihiekwe coming in for Michael Smith and the suspended Di'Shon Bernard, while for the visitors Ousmane Diakite replaced Mowatt, who was named among the substitutes.
The hosts started brightly, Barry Bannan sending an overhead kick from the edge of the area over the bar following a good move.
Bannan was involved in the opening goal in the ninth minute, releasing Marvin Johnson whose angled shot from the left-hand side deflected off Furlong, with the ball flying past goalkeeper Alex Palmer and into the net.
West Brom looked for an instant response and Maja threatened from inside the area after receiving the ball from a Tom Fellows cut-back, but his shot was deflected wide.
Windass put the hosts further ahead in the 23rd minute with a fine header from Akin Famewo's great delivery into the area.
Bannan then put a long-range effort over the bar, while Olaf Kobacki's shot from an angle forced a save from Palmer.
Keeper James Beadle came to his Wednesday's rescue, racing off his line to thwart Karlan Grant, who had been put through by Maja.
Palmer made two saves in quick succession shortly before the break, keeping out efforts from Liam Palmer and Johnson.
There was a change to the Albion line-up for the start of the second half, with Mowatt replacing Diakite.
Kyle Bartley headed over for the visitors after meeting a free-kick.
Albion boss Carlos Corberan made a double substitution on the hour mark, with Mikey Johnston and Grady Diangana taking over from Uros Racic and Grant.
And it soon paid off as Maja halved Wednesday's lead in the 65th minute, finding the target with a header from Fellows' cross following good work from Diangana.
Albion equalised in the 84th minute when Mowatt hammered in a shot from the edge of the area which bounced up and over Beadle.
But the hosts were not done and Musaba struck the winner two minutes later, finding the net from close range after Bannan's low cross picked him out.
Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:
"I think all in all our performance today was, against a really strong side, a good performance.
"We defended very well as a team, very compact. All the three goals we scored were fantastic.
"For me, just a small step today. For us it's about consistently taking points, but more important for me is to have consistently a high performance. That means not 50 minutes or 60 minutes or 78 minutes like against Luton.
"Today again, some phases where we dropped a little bit, but then we came back.
"We need 100 per cent as a basic, then we have a chance to take something, but it's happened the last couple of weeks.
"We missed at 2-0 some chances. We had the chance for a 3-0 or 4-0. Then the game is over. We didn't (take them).
"And then, you know at 2-1, it's always close and they have so much quality. It's the reason why they are on top of the table. When you look back to the games, they need not so many chances to score.
"All in all we need a team performance every day, every weekend. It's just about the team. Team first was the clear message today. Without the team we have not the chance to win games."
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
"The level of pain that I have or my players have now is huge, because of course it's the first defeat.
"You cannot be thinking that you are not going to have a defeat in the Championship, but at the same time we wanted to extend the momentum of the team.
"I think we played with too much respect and I need to see why we showed a lot of respect, too much respect or why we didn't play enough well, because as a team we competed below our level. So we need to analyse why and find solutions always.
"When you don't show your level, you give the opponent the option to beat you, because they were doing the game that we expected them to do - with pressing, with balls in behind. We didn't manage the situation, but especially we didn't manage well the end of the game in attack.
"We had some goal opportunities. I think we had a clear chance with (Karlan) Grant, the keeper makes a very good save.
"In the second half I saw my team, we saw ourselves and when we put our level we can control the games.
"The most important thing that I can say to my players today is to not waste minutes of football without showing your style in the pitch."
