Birmingham City 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Wayne Rooney ends long wait for first Blues win
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Jordan James won it for Birmingham City with his second goal of the season
Wayne Rooney won his first game as Birmingham City boss at the sixth attempt thanks to teenage substitute Jordan James' winner against bottom side Sheffield Wednesday.
The game came to life just before the break, when the Owls took the lead through George Byers on 45 minutes, only for Juninho Bacuna to level for Blues in added time when he volleyed home from 20 yards.
The home side pushed on after the interval but Jay Stansfield had a shot blocked before Siriki Dembele's fierce shot hit the side-netting.
They were not to be denied though when James, who had been on for just three minutes, converted Stansfield's centre, coolly jigging to his left to round keeper Cameron Dawson to slot in the rebound after his first effort had been blocked.
Wednesday, who have now suffered 13 defeats from 17 Championship games, are 10 points adrift of safety after their latest loss on the road.
Byers' goal, after a curling right-foot Josh Windass free-kick had come back off the post, was their first away from home since 26 August.
However, their lead was extinguished within three minutes thanks to a rasping shot from Bacuna that swerved between bodies and left Owls keeper Dawson unsighted.
Former Manchester United and England forward Rooney had lost four and drawn one of his first five games in charge and he must have feared his wait for a win was going to go on as his side wasted promising opportunities.
But, in the week that he won his eighth cap, 19-year-old Wales international James popped up to score the goal that lifted Blues back up to 14th, six points off the play-off places.
They will now look to build on this at Blackburn on Wednesday, when Danny Rohl's Owls host league leaders Leicester City, who they trail by 36 points.
Birmingham City boss Wayne Rooney:
"We can't get caught up with the fans' reaction. Everyone has opinions and we don't want to go in 1-0 down. But, when you're on the pitch you have to keep your focus and concentration. Forget the fans - my reaction at half-time wasn't good to the players - that's why my voice has gone.
"I wasn't very pleased with the first half. We didn't play with the energy I wanted in and I made the players aware of that. In the second half we were a lot better.
"Sheffield Wednesday pressed really well without the ball but we had to show more composure on the ball because we were too happy to go back to John Ruddy and allow him to make decisions.
"I've seen an improvement week by week. If that first half was four weeks ago, I could have understood it, but it was unrecognisable to what we've been doing during the international break."
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl:
"There are reasons why we're at the bottom of the table, but when I see the improvement of my team and how hard they're working, we deserved to go in at half-time with a lead of maybe two or three nil.
"I could push the button from five of the last six games. We deserved more. There has just been the one game against Rotherham where we took three points but we showed nearly what we can do in this league.
"I don't think we played like a team at the bottom. We played like a team in the middle of the table.
"It's hard, but I have a clear idea of what I want to do. It wasn't enough to take something and it was disappointing when you get this team playing at such a high level and don't get something."
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