Wolves tear apart defenceless Owls

Wednesday were on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline on the weekend as Wolverhampton Wanderers left Hillsborough with a comfortable victory and three points to go with it. Two of those goals came from striker Adam Proudlock, who was in fact an Owls player himself just a matter of weeks ago when he was on loan with Wednesday.

Chris Turner threw new signings Brian Barry-Murphy amd Michael Reddy straight into the team, whilst Darryl Powell and Carl Robinson were making their home debuts. The team obviously hasn't gelled together yet with the Owls backline looking out of sorts all afternoon.

Danny Maddix and Garry Monk certainly didn't seem to be communicating too well, as Proudlock got the better of both of them for both of his first half goals. Two further second half goals condemned the Owls to another league defeat, with results elsewhere leaving them still three points adrift of the safety zone.

Things won't get much easier for the Owls either as they now prepare to take on Norwich City at Hillsborough next week. On this performance Owls fans will be forgiven for looking elsewhere on the fixture list for Wednesday's next victory.

This report from the BBC Football site:

Adam Proudlock made a dramatic return to Hillsborough to rub salt into Sheffield Wednesday's relegation wounds and keep Wolves on course for the play-offs. Proudlock was a short-lived Owls hero, scoring two goals in a month-long loan spell from Wolves.

But he turned villain for the Wednesday fans on Saturday, scoring twice in 18 first-half minutes to stretch the visitors' unbeaten run to six matches. Dean Sturridge marked his return to fitness by coming off the bench to hammer in the final goal after Kenny Miller had struck Wolves' third. Proudlock might have had a hat-trick but missed Shaun Newton's cross at the far post and had another effort cleared off the line.

Between those moments, though, he opened his account by running on to Miller's defence-splitting through-ball. And he crowned his first start since December 2001 with another goal four minutes after the break.

This time, some smart interpassing between Paul Ince and Mark Kennedy cut Wednesday open for Proudlock to sidefoot home from close range. Wednesday had enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges but came no closer than an Alan Quinn 25-yarder that Matthew Murray turned round the post. And after the break they showed few signs of being able to halt Wolves' momentum.

Kennedy hit a post for the visitors before picking out Miller for a scoring header that was bundled over his own line by Wednesday keeper Kevin Pressman. And the veteran was beaten again in the 90th minute, when Sturridge's strike condemned the First Division strugglers to their worst home defeat of the season.

Half-time: Owls 0-2 Wolves