Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Bournemouth: Barry Bannan penalty gives much needed win for Gary Monk

Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Bournemouth: Barry Bannan penalty gives much needed win for under pressure manager Gary Monk ahead of meeting with club’s owner Dejphon Chansiri about his future at the club

  • Barry Bannan scored from the penalty spot after 71 minutes for the home side
  • Kadeem Harris was sent off in stoppage time but they held on to a vital victory
  • Gary Monk’s side badly needed a win after four-straight Championship defeats 
  • It was Bournemouth’s first league defeat since a 2-0 loss to Southampton in July  

Sheffield Wednesday eased the pressure on manager Garry Monk by inflicting Bournemouth’s first defeat since relegation from the Premier League.

It was Barry Bannan’s second-half penalty that ended a sequence of four straight defeats, in a week in which the Yorkshire club’s owner Dejphon Chansiri is set to discuss Monk’s future at a rare press conference.

Both teams finished with 10 men but it was only Wednesday’s third goal at Hillsborough this season that proved the decisive moment, lifting Monk’s team to within a point of erasing the deficit of 12 they began with back in September.

Barry Bannan scored from the penalty spot to give Sheffield Wednesday a vital league victory

The result was huge for Gary Monk (right) who is set to have a meeting with the club's owners

The result was huge for Gary Monk (right) who is set to have a meeting with the club’s owners

Bournemouth, boasting the country’s last unbeaten league record, relinquished it rather meekly despite being boosted by a clean bill of health which meant a return for £25million record signing Jefferson Lerma in midfield amongst five changes.

David Brooks, back in the city where he made his name with Sheffield United, was also recalled and teased an early shot wide.

However, it was an otherwise slow start from Jason Tindall’s team, a disappointingly recurrent theme in recent matches, which allowed the Championship’s bottom club to edge the first half.

Lerma re-directed a goal bound prod from Adam Reach for a corner following enterprising link-up from the new forward pairing of Josh Windass and Elias Kachunga while Liam Palmer and Kachunga were also off target with headed chances in the opening half hour.

The closest Wednesday came to scoring was in the 35th minute but Windass’ dipping free-kick just cleared the crossbar.

A late Bournemouth flurry before the break – in which Chris Mepham headed over from inside the six-yard box and Arnaut Danjuma stung the fingertips of Joe Wildsmith – signalled the direction the match was travelling in, however.

Wednesday were given the spot-kick when Josh Windass was fouled by Steve Cook

Wednesday were given the spot-kick when Josh Windass was fouled by Steve Cook

Cook was sent off for the challenge while Wednesday also had Kadeem Harris given a red

Cook was sent off for the challenge while Wednesday also had Kadeem Harris given a red

And but for some profligacy in front of goal by Josh King, the visitors would have been ahead before the hour.

First, a heavy touch after Danjuma’s defence-splitting pass sent him racing into the area forced him to square to David Brooks rather than shoot, with Wildsmith charging towards him, and Julian Borner used the delay to get back and block Brooks’ subsequent effort on the goalline. Then, the Norway striker planted a free header wide from Adam Smith’s centre.

It left Bournemouth vulnerable to the kind of error they made with just over 20 minutes remaining:

Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall was not happy with decisions going against his team

Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall was not happy with decisions going against his team

Windass raced into the area, rounded Asmir Begovic and was bundled over in the process of shooting by visiting captain Steve Cook.

Referee Jeremy Simpson showed the red card to Cook and his opposite number Bannan stepped up to send Begovic the wrong way from 12 yards.

And Kadeem Harris became the second dismissal after a late tackle on Lerma – although it was too late to influence the result, a first home win for Wednesday since February.