Sheffield Wednesday so close to a perfect night but suffer another blow at Bristol Rovers

Before the football talk, though, it would be remiss not to mention the touching moment before kickoff that saw both sets of fans and players come together to remember the late, great Don Megson – who left his mark on both clubs during his time as a player and as a manager. A minute’s applause was observed as everyone paid their respects.

In terms of the match itself, there was a quite a frantic start. Both sides had half chances in the opening stages, and Dennis Adeniran very nearly opened the scoring but saw his strike well-saved by James Belshaw.

Michael Smith went closest, though, as he reacted quickly to a defensive mix-up, but after stabbing it around the goalkeeper he couldn’t quite get on the end of it to tap it home.

Rovers had their chances, but were denied excellently by the likes of Marvin Johnson, Liam Palmer and Dominic Iorfa – and it felt like there was a goal coming one way or the other. Darren Moore will have been a happy man seeing which way it fell…

Smith did well on the ball to find Gregory on the edge of the box, and he fed it through to

Barry Bannan as he darted into the box. His first touch set him up, his second was driven beyond Belshaw and inside the far post, and Wednesday lead. It was Bannan’s 90th direct goal contribution in Owls colours, and could prove to be up there with his most important.

Wednesday weren’t finished, though, and after managing to keep the hosts at arm’s length they pressed for another towards the end of the first half. A scramble in the box on the back of Bannan’s corner resulted in it falling to Akin Famewo, and he drilled it goalwards with his right foot. Moore’s side had some breathing room going into the break.

It didn’t last long, though. Moments into the second half Rovers had a foothold back in it through their star man, Aaron Collins, but it was another goal in the ‘self-inflicted’ column for the Owls as Iorfa and Cameron Dawson seemingly left the ball for the other – only for Collins to steal in and finish well.

If that wasn’t bad enough, five minutes later Moore was forced into his first change as goalscorer, Famewo, went down in his own half. He was carried off the field and it didn’t look good – Tyreeq Bakinson replaced him and forced a Wednesday reshuffle.

Palmer moved to left centre back, Adeniran to right wingback, and Bakinson took up the central role.

There was a definite shift, Rovers could smell blood and saw a way back in. Callum Paterson replaced Gregory to inject fresh some energy, but it didn’t stop the Owls from being the ones under pressure.

John Marquis had the ball in the back of the net only to see it ruled out for offside, and they piled on the pressure, but Moore’s side held on.

It’s as you were in the table, though, with Ipswich Town scoring an 84th minute penalty winner and Plymouth Argyle getting theirs in the 96th. It’s the hope that kills you.