Sheffield Wednesday beat Birmingham City 2-0 in the Championship tonight.
Sheffield Wednesday welcomed relegation rivals Birmingham City to Hillsborough tonight, in what had panned out to be a huge game near the foot of the table.
Danny Rohl‘s side hadn’t won in their last six before tonight, but set themselves on their way to three points after Ike Ugbo netted his first Wednesday goal in the first half.
The Owls then started brightly in the second half, with Ugbo netting his second of the game to make the scoreline 2-0 in favour of Sheffield Wednesday.
Birmingham City attempted a fight back but never really came close, with the Owls holding out for a monumental three points on the night.
Here are three things we learned about Sheffield Wednesday after tonight’s game…
Ike Ugbo is a natural goalscorer
There had been a few question marks over January loan signing Ugbo after his first few performances for Sheffield Wednesday.
He’d shown a decent amount of promise before tonight but he’d not scored, and he’d showed no real signs of a man who could fire the Owls to Championship survival this season.
But tonight was a different case; Ugbo showed great positioning and desire to get himself on the scoresheet twice, and those two goals will do his confidence a world of good going into the final 15 games of the season.
Ian Poveda is Sheffield Wednesday’s new magic man
What an introduction from Leeds United loan man Ian Poveda tonight.
The Colombian international showed great trickery to set up Ugbo for his first, with his forward-thinking and close control proving to be a thorn in Birmingham City’s side throughout.
It looked as though he started on the right but he soon drifted into the no.10 position, with Ugbo and Bailey Cadamarteri ahead of him, which seems to be his best position.
Rohl hasn’t had a proper no.10 since he arrived in South Yorkshire. But now he has one in Poveda who looks set to play a key role in the owls’ run-in.
James Beadle not just a ball-player
Another shoutout to another January signing; James Beadle earned plaudits for his performance tonight, after a mixed start to life at Wednesday.
He too had shown some indifferent signs in his opening games for Sheffield Wednesday, with Rohl clearly bringing him in to compliment the passing style of play at Sheffield Wednesday.
And Beadle does that part of the game well. But tonight he showed his qualities as a shot-stopper, pulling off a couple of good saves with one in particular at the stroke of half-time to keep the scores level.