Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday: John Buckley's late winner sees off Owls
- Published
John Buckley (second from left) had been on the pitch just three minutes before hitting Blackburn's winner.
Blackburn scored twice in the final three minutes as John Buckley's first senior goal gave them victory over Sheffield Wednesday in a thrilling finale at Ewood Park.
Jacob Murphy thought he had earned the Owls all three points with just seven minutes remaining, nodding home from close range after Steven Fletcher's header hit the bar.
But Tosin Adarabioyo's looping header drew Rovers level five minutes later before 20-year-old midfielder Buckley's deflected shot ended Blackburn's six-game win drought.
Wednesday could have snatched a point in stoppage time but Fernando Forestieri hit the bar and Sam Hutchinson's follow-up was superbly saved by Rovers keeper Christian Walton.
Owls stopper Keiren Westwood had kept the visitors in the game with a string of second-half saves before winger Murphy - on loan from Newcastle - put them ahead against the run of play.
The veteran keeper denied Lewis Travis and Adam Armstrong before pulling off a superb stop to tip over a Joe Rothwell header that seemed destined for the top corner.
It appeared that his heroics would help the Owls to all three points and lift them to fourth in the Championship when Murphy netted his second goal since joining the club.
However, Adarabioyo - who had cleared a Dominic Iorfa header off the line in the first half - brought Blackburn level, the defender, on loan from Manchester City, finally finding a way past Westwood.
Buckley struck two minutes later to win it, his shot taking a helpful nick off an Owls defender past Westwood, to move Rovers up to 16th and establish a six-point cushion above the relegation places.
Even then, they needed the heroics of on-loan Brighton keeper Walton to deny Hutchinson after substitute Forestieri - introduced in the second half to boost a flagging Wednesday attack - had struck the woodwork.
Blackburn manager Toby Mowbray:
"I hope his (Buckley's) parents were here. John Buckley is a young player we trust and believe in but it's very difficult to give young boys game time when the team is struggling to win football matches.
"John is going to be a big player for this club in the future, I hope.
"I think that's why we're in football. I think these are days to remember for supporters of the club.
"The team kept going and got their rewards in the end for their team spirit and togetherness and I'm delighted for them.
"I was going to say 'let's hope we don't have that every week', but we would like that every week if we win. It's not easy on the heart strings."
Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"It's a sickner, no two ways about it. We are disappointed.
"It was exactly what we prepared for; a competitive, strong game, both teams trying to push each other.
"To be in the position we prepared for and wanted to be in the 85th minute, where we had worked extremely hard to get in that position, we know full well ourselves...from being in control, with the goal and the three points, we should have seen that game out.
"There was a lack of concentration in that five minutes and a couple of individual mistakes where we got punished as heavily as you can get punished.
"Of course we didn't deserve that in terms of how we played the game but it happened and you can't afford that at any level."
