Darren Moore hails ‘more or less perfect’ win for Sheffield Wednesday

Posted Sunday, September 25, 2022 by PA

Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore hailed his side’s near-perfect performance in their 3-1 victory over Wycombe.

Wednesday took the lead after just 38 seconds when Joe Jacobson turned the ball into his own net and though Sam Vokes quickly equalised, Wednesday restored their lead through Barry Bannan before half-time and substitute Callum Paterson rounded off the scoring moments before the final whistle.

Moore said: “All round, as I said to the players, ‘You’ve more or less played the perfect game today in terms of in possession of the ball and off the ball’. I was really pleased to get the three points.

“I thought it was a good game. We’ve beaten a real good team today, with the experience that they’ve got and the threats that they carry.

“I thought we had a blistering start, which is what we wanted. They equalised a few minutes after that, but I was pleased that it didn’t deter us from doing what we had to do.

“I thought that our patterns of play were good and I thought the front two, ‘Gregors’ (Lee Gregory) and (Michael) Smith, played really well. It gave us a real target to hit.

“Off the ball, I thought our first-time contacts were good and I thought we got good pressure on the ball when we needed to get pressure on the ball.”

Wednesday were gifted a dream start when Jacobson turned Marvin Johnson’s low cross in under pressure from Smith.

Vokes fired into the net from 12 yards after good work from Anis Mehmeti in the 10th minute but Bannan finished at the far post after meeting Smith’s low ball into the six-yard box in the 32nd.

After Jason McCarthy wasted a great chance to equalise, heading over from a good position, Paterson had the final say and Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth was left to lament the goals his side conceded.

He said: “The first two I can’t accept. They caught us on the hop, which isn’t us at all.

“It was a crazy start to the proceedings. They were bad goals to concede, the second one especially.

“We have a free-kick 10 yards from their box and then seconds later it ends up in our net. That’s not good enough. We’ve got to make sure our set-pieces are better.

“We probably created as many chances as any team is going to create here because it’s an unbelievable place to come. Intimidating, big, big club. They’ve got some fantastic players.

“I’m not taking anything away from Sheffield. When we get our moments, we’ve got to make them count.”

It was a disappointing result to mark the 10th anniversary of Ainsworth’s appointment as Wycombe manager.

Commenting on the milestone, he said: “I’ve had some real nice messages, (Mauricio) Pochettino and (Sir) Alex Ferguson messaging me, saying: ‘Congratulations, 10 years’. Things like that make it nice.”