Once again they did it the hard way: conceding an early goal for the fourth match running.

Laws revealed that he had dreamed this would happen.

"I also dreamed that we would bounce back: I didn't expect it to be that emphatic," he admitted.

"That's the sort of resilience that we have shown over the last 15 games."

It was a memorable day: the second biggest win of the Owls' season (topped by the 5-0 home victory agaginst Southampton), watched in a vibrant atmosphere by the Championship's largest crowd of the season and Hillsborough's biggest in seven years.

The crowd's fervour at the start was reminiscent of the play-off final.
Norwich spoiled the party by becoming scoring first and threatening to run riot.

Wednesday could have been 3-1 down at half time.

But they clinched their title as the Championship comeback kings with perhaps their finest fightback yet, to make it eight wins and five draws from games where they have gone behind.

Tenacity and clinical finishing were key.

Speedy Darren Huckerby had exploited the Owls' lack of a seasoned right back, in the ninth minute: he ran at Jermaine Johnson and went for a one-two; the stand-in full back did not track his man fully and the winger ran free into the box to plant a shot into Lee Grant's top left-hand corner.

But for a miraculous save from Grant, Wednesday would have disastrously gone 2-0 down in the 14th minute.

Striker Ched Evans got clear down the left and crossed to unmarked midfielder Matty Pattison; Grant was wrong-footed but stuck out his right arm to push the shot wide.

Laws admitted: "When we needed the goalkeeper to make a fantastic save, he kept us in it."

The Owls strugggled to cope with Norwich's pace, movement and composed passing. in the early stages.

They desperately needed something to calm their nerves, and they got it in the 22nd minute. Centre back Jason Shackell hauled down Deon Burton from behind, just inside the Leppings Lane-end box.

Burton put the kick away almost with nonchalance, clearly unfazed by his miss at Leicester, as he sent David Marshall the wrong way with a kick into the keeper's bottom left corner.

The striker said: "The rule is 'never change your mind'. But I must have changed my mind about five times in between putting the ball down and taking the kick.

"Luckily this one went in for me - not like last week."

Canaries players were unhappy, manager Glenn Roeder called it a "really poor" decision and added: "I think Mark Clattenburg is one of the best referees in the country. But he's human."

An episode of panic in the Wednesday penalty area included a deflected shot by Pattison from which Grant made a sharp block.

Franck Songo'o created a half chance when he sent Bartosz Slusarski away down the left but the striker was policed and could only fire across goal.

The Owls had a huge let-off in the 41st minute. Evans was clean away down the middle and saw Grant off his line; the striker's lob looked as if it was dropping into the net but went over the bar.

A minute later Wednesday could have gone ahead: Bolder teed the ball up for Slusarski and the Pole's shot ran tamely into Marshall's arms.

The Owls were continually hassled by Huckerby and by Dublin, whose centre-forward knowhow made life hard for Richard Wood and Mark Beevers.

Norwich poured forward in the 48th minute to make an other opportunity, struck over the bar from 18 yards by an unchallenged Pattison.

Johnson, booked earlier for a tackle on Bertrand, lived dangerously with a tackle on Huckerby and a lecture from the ref. The Owls could ill afford to go down to 10 men in a game of this importance.

Then anxiety vanished. Slusarski showed quick thinking and drive to deliver a lovely low cross from the left. Ben Sahar showed a true striker's instinct to get on the end of the cross and jab it in from close range.

A minute after that it should have been 2-2. A bad back-pass from Watson put Huckerby through; he could only shoot miles wide. Watson held up his hand to acknowledge his mistake.

The Owls midfielder, who has done well to battle on despite a groin injury, soon made way for Graham Kavanagh, and Songo'o was replaced by Sean McAllister.

Slusarski pushed out to the left, and Adam Bolder was moved to right-side midfield to quell the Norwich threat in that area. The changes worked, with McAllister, in the centre, having an impact with his tackling and workrate.

Laws admitted: "In the second half we showed more energy in midfield and controlled the positions better."

A Slusarski pass carved out a chance for Spurr: his drive was beaten away by Marshall, in the 63rd minute.

The weighty issues of the day were momentarily forgotten when Dublin was taken off and stepped into retirement - to a wonderful ovation.

Then it was back to business - and an eruption of joy when the Owls made it 3-1.

Burton stole into space to meet Spurr's high cross from the left and delicately glanced a header into Marshall's bottom left-hand corner, in the 76th minute.

After that it was plain sailing: and for the second week running Leon Clarke was a bit of a cult hero, coming on as a late sub and forcing home a fine ball from Slusarski.

The traditional lap of honour at the end was a way of saluting the fans and was restrained rather than triumphal.

After all, Wednesday had avoided relegation, not won promotion.
But well done to Brian Laws, his staff and the players for winning the
fight.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

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