Empty seats but a lot of love for Sheffield Wednesday despite defeat to star-studded Manchester City

Those nights don’t come around often and despite the wide empty spaces in the Kop, this was a Hillsborough bang up for the occasion, every Wednesday block, pass and dribble met by the sound of a drum and several thousand purrs of approval.

In a ground that has seen little love from the terraces in recent weeks – for good reason – it made a huge difference.

Barry Bannan megged David Silva. Iorfa out-thought Aguero. Jacob Murphy skipped past Benjamin Mendy again and again.

There were chances of course. Aguero missed a sitter, Otamendi and Stones misdirected headers. But the hosts, set up to soak up City possession and hit them on the break, did so with a bit of swagger.

On 15 minutes is was 0-0. Half an hour? 0-0. And Sheffield Wednesday left the pitch at half-time to a deserved standing ovation with the scoreline at 0-0.

The second half was a different story of course and when that man Aguero scored courtesy of VAR’s absence on 54 minutes you feared the worst. The last time Wednesday got to half-time scoreless with City they lost 7-0. Not this time.

Joe Wildsmith will face an inquest for that opener. His reappearance in an Owls line-up for the first time since August 2018 had the feel of an audition of a film role he was never likely to get, set on the grandest stage and was quite literally broadcast live on national television, but he should have done better.

Steven Fletcher came on and substitute teenager Alex Hunt continued his Wednesday journey with a committed performance, but as his teammates tired alongside the crowd, City took full control.

They fed off scraps best they could, and for a nanosecond it looked like Hunt’s ball through to Fletcher at the back post would take the Owls into dreamland.

But it raced inches past and the scoreline remained. The positives were countless. Brentford up next.