Marvin Johnson's goal was only Sheffield Wednesday's seventh in the league this season
Sheffield Wednesday substitute Anthony Musaba’s late strike earned a dramatic victory over previously unbeaten Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion at a sunny Hillsborough.
Baggies substitute Alex Mowatt’s mis-hit 84th-minute shot from the edge of the box looked like rescuing a point for below-par Albion, who battled back from a 2-0 half-time deficit.
But within two minutes, Musaba tapped in his first goal of the season - from a typically smart pass by the excellent Barry Bannan - to earn the Owls their second league victory this season and end a four-game winless run.
An early deflected Marvin Johnson strike and Josh Windass' brilliant first-time header from Akin Famewo’s measured long pass gave the hosts a richly deserved half-time lead.
Championship top scorer Josh Maja’s seventh goal of the season made it 2-1 and Mowatt’s shot bounced down into the turf and over keeper James Beadle to make it 2-2, and the visitors briefly had hope of a fifth consecutive Championship win.
Musaba’s intervention quickly ended that prospect and lifted Wednesday out of the relegation zone.
Both sides won their opening games of the season, Wednesday thumping Plymouth Argyle 4-0.
But although their fortunes have varied drastically since then, with the Baggies winning four of their next five league games and conceding just two goals, and the Owls losing four of their next five, it was the hosts who were brighter, sharper and more impressive throughout.
Danny Rohl’s side mixed up their game brilliantly, going long to stretch the play and then making the most of the space that was created in midfield to play through the lines as the visitors dropped deep to thwart the more direct threat.
Moments after the impressive Bannan’s acrobatic overhead kick went over, Wednesday moved the ball quickly from right to left to Bannan, who found Johnson and the winger’s shot went across goal, flicked off Darnell Furlong and beyond keeper Alex Palmer.
West Brom rarely threatened before the break, with almost 20 minutes gone before they posed any sort of menace.
A Furlong header from a free-kick that looped up harmlessly over the bar brought a brief flurry of pressure and Maja had a shot blocked after great work by the ever-lively Tom Fellows.
Maja also made a mess of a free header from a corner, while Beadle spread himself brilliantly to deny Karlan Grant from close range following a cute pass by Maja.
But the Owls, with Bannan dictating play in midfield, remained the more impressive side and Famewo's long pass travelled about 60 yards and Windass showed magnificent awareness to run and head the ball over the advancing Palmer from the edge of the box.
Bannan also had a strike from distance that flew over the bar and Palmer comfortably dealt with an Olaf Kobacki shot from a tight angle as the hosts pressed before the break.
The failure to find a game-sealing third goal looked like proving costly as the Baggies, with Mowatt and John Swift bringing much needed control in the centre of the pitch.
But after Fellows teed up Maja to make it 2-1 and Mowatt equalised following a half-cleared long throw, Musaba got on the end of a slick move to grab the winner.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl:
"Our performance today was, against a really strong side, good. We defended very well as a team, very compact. All the three goals we scored were fantastic.
“For me, just a small step today. For us it's about consistently taking points, but more important for me is to have consistently a high performance. That means not 50 minutes or 60 minutes or 78 minutes like against Luton.
“We need 100 per cent as a basic, then we have a chance to take something, but it's happened the last couple of weeks.
“We missed at 2-0 some chances. We had the chance for a 3-0 or 4-0. Then the game is over. We didn’t (take them). And then, you know at 2-1, it's always close and they have so much quality. It's the reason why they are on top of the table."
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan:
"The level of pain that I have for my players have now is huge, because of course it's the first defeat. You cannot think you are not going to have a defeat in the Championship, but we wanted to extend the momentum.
"We played with too much respect and I need to see why or why we didn't play well enough, because as a team we competed below our level. We need to analyse why and find solutions.
"When you don't show your level, you give the opponent the option to beat you, because they were doing the game that we expected them to do – with pressing, with balls in behind.
"We didn’t manage the situation, but especially we didn't manage well the end of the game in attack. In the second half I saw my team, we saw ourselves and when we put our level we can control the games."
