At the death! - Sheffield Wednesday's Lee Gregory leaves it late to land huge win for Owls over AFC Wimbledon

Wednesday fans would have been forgiven for getting quite excited about the afternoon after the start the team made… They were 1-0 up within 12 minutes, and looking bright.

A couple of balls over the top from Barry Bannan fired some warning shots to the visitors, but they still gave him the freedom of Hillsborough on the left side in the 11th minute as he whipped a delightful box into the far post where it found an eagerly awaiting Jack Hunt.

The wingback had never scored for Wednesday prior to his goal against Cheltenham Town, but was on hand with a diving header to score in consecutive games for the first time in his professional career. Wednesday were ahead.

And it should have been 2-0 five minutes later as Bannan got his creative cap on once again to feed Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, however his effort grazed the post after beating Nik Tzanev and it could have been a crucial miss.

They’d looked careless in patches, and Zach Robinson made the most of what looked like a failed offside trap, running down the right wing unopposed before cutting back to a young Ayoub Assal, who fired past Bailey Peacock-Farrell from close range. It was their first effort, and they made it count.

After that both teams had their spells of possession, their were scrambles in both boxes as Bannan continued to run things in the middle, but too many of his defence-splitters went unpunished, and – just like last week – it was 1-1 at the break.

Darren Moore made no immediate for the second half, but after the Owls still struggled to get themselves back into the lead it felt that some sort of change was needed.

Bannan kept on trying to be the catalyst as he fed Mendez-Laing and Massimo Luongo on numerous occasions, but Wimbledon – who had set up their stall and were taking their time at every opportunity – stood firm.

It was the 67th minute when the change did come, and it was a roll of the dice from Moore as he asked Marvin Johnson to slot in at left centre back once again, with NML moving to wingback and Saido Berahino coming on to replace Dominic Iorfa.

Things did seem to improve, but while the Owls were doing all the attacking they found it once again difficult to break down the visitor’s low block. George Byers and Mendez-Laing both had shots saved from range, but it was was Assal who came closest to scoring as he found himself one-on-one with BPF – only to have his effort well saved by the Owls keeper.

Moore went for broke as Mide Shodipo made his return after four months out and Callum Paterson entered the fray – NML and Byers were replaced.

Lee Gregory had a penalty appeal waved away in the final moments, but the striker wasn't finished.

Wednesday’s number nine joked in the week that he only scored in front of the Kop – and not many will have felt better than this one. He dove to head home Paterson's centre, and send Hillsborough into raptures.

Wednesday are fifth, and three points ahead of Oxford United.