Wednesday 0-2 Huddersfield

Wednesday were outclassed by promotion rivals Huddersfield Town at a windy and rain-soaked Hillsborough in npower League One on Tuesday night.

First-half goals from Graham Carey and Anthony Pilkington proved enough for the Terriers, who didn’t need to get out of second gear to see off the threat of Alan Irvine’s Owls.

Another lacklustre display left Wednesdayites leaving S6 disappointed once again and booing a side who gave little in the way of entertainment value and any hope of promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking.

The defeat sees Wednesday slide down to tenth in the table while the Terriers maintain second spot.

The Owls made three changes to the side that lost at Charlton at the weekend with Darren Purse returning from suspension to replace Tommy Spurr while Jermaine Johnson and Chris Sedgwick both returned in place of Gary Teale and Tommy Miller.

Wednesday wanted a strong start to the match following Saturday’s setback at The Valley but it was the Terriers who made the brighter start.

Jordan Rhodes was always going to be one of Town’s dangermen, alongside Pilkington, and he almost made contact with a dangerous cross early on as Town came flying out of the traps.

Marcus Tudgay looked to respond for Wednesday when he sent a looping header onto the roof of the net but it was the visitors who continued to look the stronger in the opening exchanges.

Rhodes came even closer when he lashed a powerful low effort by Weaver which came crashing back off the woodwork in front of the healthy following from Huddersfield in the Leppings Lane end.

Lee Clark’s men looked more determined, focussed and sharp than their hosts all over the pitch early on – something which Clark will have no doubt been quick to drill into his men.

And they were rewarded with the opener on 23 minutes when Carey struck a sweet free-kick beyond Weaver and into the back of the net.

One of the few positives for Wednesdayites was the welcome return of winger Jermaine Johnson for his first league start of the season.

The Jamaican, who missed the weekend outing at Charlton due to personal reasons, looked to make an impression in his first Hillsborough outing of the campaign and was causing Huddersfield the most problems with his pace.

And he came close to levelling as the half progressed but saw a shot well saved by Town stopper Ian Bennett after beating two defenders.

It should have given Wednesday the boost to continue forward in search of an equaliser but instead the visitors went straight down the other end to double their advantage.

Rhodes was involved again, sweeping forward with the ball before feeding the on-song Pilkington, who struck a sweet effort around Weaver for Town’s second.

The visitors were cruising and they could have had a third before half-time but Rhodes fired inches wide of goal.

Wednesday were struggling and couldn’t wait for the half-time whistle to come so they could regroup.

Half-Time: Wednesday 0-2 Huddersfield

The Owls made a double change at half-time with Clinton Morrison and James O’Connor replacing Marcus Tudgay and Darren Potter respectively.

And the changes almost worked a treat for Irvine as first O’Connor tested Bennett with a low shot before Morrison was also in the thick of the action when he came close to connecting to a teasing cross from Johnson.

To Wednesday’s credit they did improve in the second half, but then again they couldn’t get much worse from their first-half showing.

The visitors looked relaxed on their lead, and although the hosts did test Bennett more often on the resumption he wasn’t too far out of his comfort zone.

Johnson flashed an effort wide as the Owls continued to look for their breakthrough but it didn’t come.

Nicky Weaver was a spectator for much of the second period although Rhodes did come close to adding a third for the visitors late on.

Clark’s men didn’t need to do much though and it was a case of job done, with Wednesday’s early second-half pressure fading pretty quickly and Town happy on their 2-0 advantage.

A bad night was made worse for the hosts with eight minutes to go when Johnson pulled up with a hamstring problem and, with the Owls already having made all three substitutions, they had to finish the game with ten men.

Full-Time: Wednesday 0-2 Huddersfield