Sheffield Wednesday made an emphatic return to winning ways by brushing aside their Yorkshire rivals Leeds United at Hillsborough. Wednesday came into the game on the back of successive defeats, by Birmingham City and Sheffield United, but this victory has them moving in the right direction once more. They now occupy 12th in the Championship while Leeds fall to fifth, behind in-form Bristol City on goal difference.
Gary Hooper scored two first-half goals for Wednesday before Kieran Lee capped the victory eight minutes from time, to condemn Leeds to a second defeat inside five days. Hooper, who has now scored seven goals in as many matches, could have had a hat-trick but he rattled the crossbar late on. The visitors made the brighter start to the game, with Kalvin Phillips heading wide and Samuel Sáiz shooting off target from the edge of the area. Wednesday’s first chance fell to Ross Wallace, who saw his shot blocked following a promising build-up. Leeds threatened again with Ezgjan Alioski heading into the side-netting.
The hosts dominated for the rest of the half and took control of the game with two goals. Wallace’s free-kick was headed down by Tom Lees and Hooper provided the finishing touch from close range. Hooper then had a shot deflected wide and Steven Fletcher missed a golden chance after meeting Wallace’s cross.
The second goal came when Liam Palmer delivered a deep cross which was headed back across the face of goal by Fletcher and Hooper headed in off the inside of a post. Lee added a third late on, beating the goalkeeper from distance after Eunan O’Kane’s attempted clearance.
“What made a big difference in this game is that we scored first. After that, we managed the game very well,” said the Wednesday head coach, Carlos Carvalhal.
