Wrexham inflicted a sixth successive league defeat on bottom side Sheffield Wednesday to return to the Championship's play-off places.

The Welsh side controlled the majority of the game at Hillsborough and, following an uneventful first half, went ahead on 58 minutes as Sam Smith notched his sixth goal of the season.

The Owls went close through Bailey Cadamarteri and Jamal Lowe late on, but Wrexham clinched a fourth successive away win to move back up to sixth place.

Henrik Pedersen's men remain adrift at the foot of the table, having failed to win any of their 16 home league matches this season.

Phil Parkinson had urged his side not to be complacent at bottom side Wednesday, and despite seeing his troops dominate possession from the outset, the best opening early on fell to Owls debutant Jerry Yates, who fired over after combining with Lowe.

After Nathan Broadhead failed to make full contact with a header from close range, Wrexham worked their way into an encouraging position, which ended with Callum Doyle having a shot blocked.

But the first half was devoid of ruthlessness, from both sides, in front of goal - as evidenced when Ben Sheaf volleyed just over in added time after latching on to Doyle's lofted ball over the top.

The early stages of the second half followed a similar pattern, although the Red Dragons' quality shone through just before the hour mark.

Max Cleworth threaded through to Issa Kabore, whose cross from the right found Smith and he poked home the opener at the back post with his fourth goal in as many league starts.

Wrexham turned the screw as they went in search of a second goal, with Murphy Cooper denying Smith at his near post as Parkinson's men dominated.

The Owls were clinging on and were grateful to see Smith guide a further effort wide.

But they had two chances in quick succession as Arthur Okonkwo produced a vital save to deny Cadamarteri before Lowe had a shot cleared off the line by Matty James from the resulting corner.

After surviving that nervy spell, Wrexham saw out the latter stages with minimal fuss to keep an eighth clean sheet of the Championship season - with the Owls failing to score for a seventh league game running, their worst run since 2005.

Forward Smith made no secret of his frustrations at consistently being left out of Parkinson's starting line-up earlier on in the campaign.

But he has well and truly stepped up to the plate since the turn of the year.

He has netted in each of his past four Championship starts and performed well when it comes to getting his side up the pitch.

Wrexham could well add a striker to their ranks before Monday's 19:00 GMT transfer deadline, but in Smith, Kieffer Moore and Jay Rodriguez - with Ryan Hardie possibly leaving - they still have some real firepower at their disposal.

As for the Owls, they once again showed plenty of fight, but lacked the quality when it mattered most.

The creativity of Barry Bannan will be sorely missed, and the likes of Yates, Lowe and Cadamarteri lacked a killer instinct in the final third.

A season in League One appears to be drawing ever closer, and their hope is that Pedersen can at least build some confidence within the squad over the coming months.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen:

"It's been a difficult week, with Barry [Bannan] going and the transfer window closing.

"We wanted to keep all of the energy on the performance and in training yesterday, it was great.

"We wanted to bring this energy on to the pitch today. When I look at the 94 minutes, I think the players did all that they could to match a very strong Wrexham team who are fighting for the top six."

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson:

"These games are never straightforward. I spoke to the lads yesterday about games over the last four years that we've had in similar circumstances where we've gone to teams who are at the bottom of the table and nearly all the games have had a similar feel to them.

"They've (Sheffield Wednesday) been in the games and we knew it would be difficult today and we found a way in the end."