Wade Small's goal just before half-time saw Sheffield Wednesday to victory over relegation rivals Colchester and hauled the Owls out of the bottom three.
Colchester took the lead when Kevin Lisbie converted Karl Duguid's pass with a slotted finish from six yards.
But Deon Burton headed Graham Kavanagh's free-kick past Dean Gerken to draw the visitors level.
And seconds from the break, midfielder Small latched on to Marcus Tudgay's pass fired his side to victory.
Colchester manager Geraint Williams: "I'm very proud of the players because everyone gave 100%. We got ourselves in front but we then conceded two soft goals to let them back."
"We're not down at the moment but it will take a heck of a fight to get out of it."
"There's still 27 points and an awful lot of pride left to play for."
Wednesday manager Brian Laws: "This match - it was a must-win game for us. It wasn't pleasing on the eye but we really had to dig deep."
"This could be the turning point in our season and the players put in a good shift for us."
"This match might have been Colchester's last chance to climb out of the bottom three. We may have killed them off tonight."
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