Darren Moore: Special moments helped Sheffield Wednesday to victory

Darren Moore described Barry Bannan’s classy finish and a double save by Bailey Peacock-Farrell as “special moments” as Sheffield Wednesday moved to the edge of the play-off zone with a 2-0 win at Crewe.

Bannan’s impressive 27th-minute finish helped extend the Owls’ unbeaten run to 12 games, although this was their first win in three.

After Peacock-Farrell thwarted Crewe striker Chris Porter, Lee Gregory headed in shortly after the break to ease the visitors’ passage to victory.

Wednesday boss Moore said: “I thought we dominated from start to finish and we probably could have had more goals in terms of our domination.

“It was an exceptional performance and it is a continuation of the way the team is developing. We have dominated games like that but not got the three points we’ve deserved.

“Today there was a real focus to get them. There were two special moments with Barry’s goal and Bailey’s penalty save – we’ve seen him save them before.

“We kept our foot on the gas in the second half and scoring soon after half-time knocked the stuffing out of Crewe.”

Despite their dominance, Moore’s side offered Crewe a window of opportunity in first-half stoppage time when Scott Robertson launched a cross into the box and it hit Bannan on the arm at close range.

But Peacock-Farrell came to the rescue with a double save, pushing out Porter’s spot-kick and then saving the striker’s rebound with his legs.

The Owls started the second period at a high tempo and Dave Richards had to parry away an effort from Gregory. But the Crewe keeper was beaten by a powerful header from the striker off Jack Hunt’s cross.

Callum Paterson threatened to make the winning margin even more comfortable, with a header from a Bannan corner coming back off the far post.

Crewe, who were without midweek matchwinner Mikael Mandron through illness, have sunk back to the bottom of the table.

Manager David Artell said: “The first goal is a piece of quality from the best player in the league and then we had two minutes either side of half-time that changed the game.

“It should have been 1-1 with the penalty and then it’s 2-0. We started the second half slowly and it cost us, although I thought overall we were competitive.

“As good as Barry Bannan is, all goals should be stopped and for the second goal the lads were still in the dressing room, which is not good.

“We asked them to be up to speed and they weren’t, but I’m not going to criticise the players as I thought they were magnificent against a good team.

“We could have scored the penalty and we had two or three chances, but we didn’t have the quality to get a goal.

“We’ve had a tough two or three days with things that have gone off. Two players that were to play were out; one is injured (Ben Knight) and the other is ill (Mandron).”