Misery business - Sheffield Wednesday beaten by Oxford United on grim afternoon at Hillsborough

Wednesday started nicely, putting pressure on Oxford’s backline. On six minutes, though, the focus turned away from the field as fans united behind Owls fan favourite, José Semedo – applauding as ‘You’ll never get past Semedo’ rang through Hillsborough for a whole minute. Oxford fans also showed their respect after the tragic passing of his wife this week.

The tide turned, though, as The U’s got on the ball more, and it felt like they were most likely to open the scoring. They did.

Herbie Kane harried Marvin Johnson, who gave the ball away in a bad position, and Chey Dunkley failed to close down Cameron Brannagan as he was bearing down on Bailey Peacock-Farrell. He fired goalwards – towards the near post - to find the back of the net, but BPF will know he probably should’ve done better, though.

After that, things fell a bit flat. Barry Bannan had a great effort tipped over by Jack Stevens and fired a long-range strike down his throat, while Oxford continued to ask questions of the Wednesday backline without really testing Peacock-Farrell again.

Wednesday had the second half - and nearly levelled up straight after the break with Bannan’s brilliant cross finding Berahino – who was a lick of paint away from making an immediate impact after being brought on for Lee Gregory.

Oxford took their time, infuriating the Hillsborough crowd, while Darren Moore brought on Sylla Sow and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru to try and force a change.

The Owls got better, kept pushing, and were finally rewarded in the 73rd minute when Johnson’s cross found Paterson – who finished with aplomb to equalise. They celebrated with a ‘Semedo 6’ shirt, another nice touch in what must be a difficult time for their former midfielder.

Fans fumed at the linesman and referee as numerous decisions went against them, and things got worse in stoppage time as a penalty shout was waved away – only for The U’s to go up the other end and find what would eventually be the winning goal through James Henry.

A real kick in the teeth for Wednesday on a torrid afternoon at Hillsborough.

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