Josh Windass (left) opened the scoring at Hillsborough with his fourth league goal of the season
Sheffield Wednesday enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 victory over Norwich City in the Championship at Hillsborough.
Marvin Johnson floated a breathtaking ball over the Norwich defence early on, which Josh Windass controlled, before firing home to open the scoring.
Dominic Iorfa climbed highest from a free-kick to double the hosts' advantage as the Canaries struggled due to key players being out through injury.
The Owls - who took both three points and a clean sheet for the first time since August - moved up five places in the table to 13th, with Norwich slipping two spots to 12th.
The Canaries created the first opportunity early on, with right-back Kellen Fisher firing the ball at goal, only for Wednesday goalkeeper James Beadle's strong hand to palm it away.
At the other end, Johnson played a dangerous cross in from the right, but Ike Ugbo's header was off target.
- Published1 November
- Published4 November
A moment later, Johnson found himself on the left-hand touchline and executed a brilliant raking 30-yard pass, which Windass cushioned down and neatly slotted in under pressure.
Norwich rallied to respond as Kaide Gordon had a strike blocked and Borja Sainz shot high and wide.
But the hosts were soon celebrating a 2-0 scoreline when Shea Charles' looping free-kick was headed in by Iorfa, and they could have had a third but Norwich keeper George Long dived down to push away Ugbo's powerful effort.
By the half-hour mark, Norwich had mustered just one shot on target and looked to be missing a creative spark - perhaps a consequence of being without 11 first-team players due to injury - which manager Johannes Hoff Thorup had described as a "crazy situation" before the match.
The Owls continued to attack, with Yan Valery's shot dribbling wide as he threw himself at full stretch to yet another menacing Johnson delivery.
Sainz headed into the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside as Wednesday held on for their first home win in four attempts in all competitions.
'Canaries confidence dropped' - Reaction
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"Credit to my team. It is not easy when you get such a setback [as Saturday's 6-2 defeat at home to Watford].
"We spoke after the game and we looked at conceded goals. We were very focused, we concentrated on our match plan.
"It was about individual mistakes, this is what we had to stop and today we stopped [it].
"We were very committed. They delivered with heart, with passion. It was fantastic to see."
Norwich City manager Johannes Hoff Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"I don't think [there are] many positives in this. We conceded two and the confidence dropped completely.
"We should deal with the direct pass in behind way better. The set piece situation, I'm more frustrated with the way that we give that free-kick.
"Everything after that got a little bit too slow and a little bit too complicated.
"We gave them the game that they wanted. We tried to prepare and we didn't prepare well enough."
