Atdhe Nuhiu's final day hat-trick took him to 14 goals for the campaign
Sheffield Wednesday earned their best win of the season as Atdhe Nuhiu's hat-trick helped to hammer Norwich City.
Kosovan Nuhiu opened the scoring on 14 minutes with a far-post header before Fernando Forestieri doubled their lead.
In two second-half minutes, Frederico Venancio scored before Nuhiu rolled his second into an empty net after keeper Angus Gunn spilled in a collision.
Norwich got one back with Timm Klose's left-foot finish, but Nuhiu had the last word from the penalty spot.
Jos Luhukay's in-form Owls have finished the season well, with six wins in their last nine matches, to climb to 15th, a place below Norwich.
Canaries head coach Daniel Farke was forced into an 11th-minute change when key 14-goal playmaker James Maddison, who was in the PFA Championship team of the season, went off after receiving lengthy treatment.
Just three minutes later, Nuhiu met Adam Reach's cross to head beyond Gunn, who conceded again when Forestieri nipped in to score after intercepting an under-hit Christoph Zimmermann back pass.
Venancio added a 58th-minute third with his first goal for the club, a well-placed volley from Reach's cross, before Nuhiu scored his second when Gunn and Zimmermann collided.
Klose's late consolation goal came on 83 minutes when he beat Dawson with a low shot before Nuhiu's injury-time penalty after Forestieri was fouled inside the area by Jamal Lewis.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay:
"It's fantastic to win 5-1 in your last game at your own stadium. We created chances to score more goals.
"I thank our fans for their support in the last month. Our fans always stay behind the team. In a difficult period when you're not playing very well, the fans have an important role to play.
"We can go into the summer with a very good feeling, and go into pre-season with confidence.
"I hope that we find a positive solution with Atdhe so that he signs a new contract with us. He would like to stay with us and I hope that he stays with us.
Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke:
"It's pretty hard to take because we wanted to finish as strong as we could. I'm not happy with the result but we have to judge this game a little bit in isolation.
"We had pretty good away form over the season but we had to deal with many injuries and that's probably one of the biggest reasons. We have to accept this result.
"There was pretty naive behaviour when we conceded goals. It's quite obvious that we have to defend better.
"When you concede five goals, you are not allowed to talk about the positives, but we did have more possession and created chances."
- Published30 April 2018
