Darren Moore enjoys ‘perfect day’ as Sheffield Wednesday hammer Cambridge

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore was delighted with a “perfect day” as his side thrashed Cambridge 6-0.

It was a dominant display from the hosts, who were led by a Saido Berahino hat-trick, while Cambridge rarely threatened to score.

A Lloyd Jones own-goal and strikes from Barry Bannan and George Byers added to the rout which keeps the Owls right in the play-off picture.

Moore said: “Really pleased with the result and the performance. It was an emphatic win for us and I thought it was a game we controlled from start to finish.

“I thought we came out of the blocks really quick, got the goals early and sort of managed and controlled the game from there.

“The patterns of play that we worked on in the week worked really well. Their work off-the-ball as well was excellent today and all-round today it was a perfect day for Sheffield Wednesday.

“I’m pleased for him (Berahino) because the work that he’s done behind the scenes to get to a level in his physical being has been excellent, really.

“What you saw today with him is being in total control with the ball when it’s come to him. He’s got an eye for goal and he’s executed three lovely finishes today.”

The game was only six minutes old when Jones, attempting to cut out Lee Gregory’s low cross, turned the ball into his own net to open the scoring.

Bannan added a second goal in the tenth minute with a superb strike from 25 yards.

Berahino made it 3-0 with a shot on the turn in the 37th minute and he scored again four minutes before the break, turning in the loose ball from close-range after Gregory’s effort had been saved.

The former West Brom man then set up George Byers, who beat Dimitar Mitov with ease three minutes after the interval.

Berahino completed his hat-trick in the 54th minute, firing past Mitov from inside the area.

Cambridge head coach Mark Bonner said: “There’s nothing enjoyable about that experience. We played a team that blew us away in the early part of the game and we could never get control to the game at all.

“We were nowhere near our best and playing a team who are in-form and on it. They’ve shown us what very good looks like.

“You just hope that you can be in it more than we were and carry more of a threat than we did and defend the situations better than we did.

“You could talk forever about the game and dissect every moment and every goal. In the end we were a long way short of the opponent today and they very, very much deserved the result and it could have been more.

“They are a good enough team to create chances and they played and ran off us with a tempo and a quality we couldn’t find a match for today.”