Sheffield Wednesday earned a monumental win over Hull City in the Championship this evening.
Sheffield Wednesday ended their 2023 on a high note after winning 1-0 at Preston North End last week, and they’ve now started their 2024 on another positive after beating Hull City.
The Owls welcomed Yorkshire rivals Hull to Hillsborough for what promised to be a tough game against a play-off contender.
But after Tyler Morton’s sending off in the first half, Danny Rohl‘s Wednesday took control, and took the lead shortly after the break through Marvin Johnson.
Djeidi Gassama then added a second before Josh Windass scored a tidy third, with Hull scoring from the spot to take a clean sheet away from the Owls.
And amid a string of fine individual performances, skipper Barry Bannan shone.
Sheffield Wednesday legend Barry Bannan runs the game vs Hull City
Bannan put in a typically classy performance today, showing his experience and creativity to give Wednesday a real outlet in the middle of the pitch.
As per Sofascore, Bannan had a staggering 112 touches vs Hull, 29 more than any other player on the pitch, recording 90 out of 96 passes (94% completion) which is again more than any other player on the pitch.
To ad to that, Bannan made two key passes and won 4 out of 6 ground duels.
Maturing like a fine wine
Bannan has been a constant for Sheffield Wednesday for nine years now, and a consistent too.
During ups and downs, the 34-year-old has more often than not been regarded as the one influential name in this Sheffield Wednesday side, and that was certainly the case today.
There were impressive individual performances from scorers Johnson and Gassama, but the stats show that Bannan pulled the strings and dictated play throughout.
He’s someone who, despite having been in the game for a number of years now, continues to adapt to the modern game, coming into a new vein of form under Rohl.
Bannan hadn’t enjoyed a strong start to this season and was in and out of the side through injury.
But over the past few weeks, Bannan has returned to his best, and his fine form and leadership qualities on the pitch is helping the Owls to drag themselves closer and closer to safety.