Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl hailed Josh Windass’ wonder goal as a key moment in his side’s 4-2 win over Derby.
Wednesday held a narrow lead through Barry Bannan’s early opener when Windass put further daylight between the teams with a stunning effort in the 61st minute.
The in-form forward picked the ball up in his own half and, before he had reached the centre circle, looked up and lobbed stranded Derby goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom for a remarkable effort – netting for the fifth consecutive game with what was his 50th goal for the club.
The Owls added a third just two minutes later through Djeidi Gassama and made the game safe in the 74th minute when Anthony Musaba increased the lead to 4-1, soon after Derby had pulled a goal back through Jerry Yates.
The win helped Wednesday bounce back from a 3-1 defeat at Preston on Sunday and left them ninth in the Championship table on 36 points.
Rohl said: “Good start to the year. In the first half an hour we were playing well and created some good chances. Derby changed their set-up and it made pressing more difficult for us.
“Derby are one of the best teams in the league at set-pieces and we were under a lot of pressure at the end of the first half but we came through it.
“It was a brilliant goal from Josh (Windass) and he’s in outstanding form at the moment but getting that second goal was the most important thing for me.
“At 3-1 we had to stay focused because like we showed at Middlesbrough things can change very quickly once you start to gather momentum.
“The quality dropped a little bit towards the end of the game as it’s been such a busy schedule and the players are getting tired.
“We are conceding more than we would like and getting more clean sheets is something we have to work on.
“We’re in a much better position than we were this time last season but we’ll keep pushing to get to 50 points as quickly as possible.”
Derby manager Paul Warne, whose side netted a late consolation through Ebou Adams, felt the Rams deserved at least a point from the game.
He said: “I think we played pretty well today. In the first half we weathered the storm and got a grip of their midfield. I thought we were always in the game and I was comfortable.
“I went in at the break feeling we’d made more chances than the opposition but I was unhappy because we should have gone in leading.
“We created enough chances but we weren’t clinical enough. To score two goals away from home and still lose is disappointing. We could have had four or five.
“We’ve been unfortunate in both games against Wednesday; we’ve played well and come away with no points. Today we played well enough to get at least a point.
“There isn’t much we can do about the second goal. I hate losing but I’m not a bad loser and sometimes you have to hold your hands up and appreciate the opposition.
“Take away the screamer, the first and third goal were definitely avoidable. We’re not normally that loose at the back.
“We haven’t created so many chances away from home in a long time. It’s disappointing because we weren’t far away from getting a good result today.”
