Jordan Rhodes and Sam Winnall on target in Sheffield Wednesday win
Jordan Rhodes and Sam Winnall showed why Sheffield Wednesday splashed the cash in January as they both bagged their first goals in a 3-0 win over Birmingham.
Rhodes, a loanee from Middlesbrough who will join permanently for B#10million in the summer, opened the scoring early on and B#500,000-man Winnall doubled the lead after the break
Adam Reach also added a third late on to consolidate Wednesday's play-off aspirations.
With recruitments like these, Carlos Carvalhal's side look a good bet to book a place in the top six come May and now have a five-point gap over seventh-placed Norwich.
What Birmingham would give for quality like that in their attacking ranks as Gianfranco Zola was left to rue a frustrating night at Hillsborough.
Blues arguably deserved to take something out of the game before their late capitulation as they hit the woodwork three times and dominated large parts of the game.
But they were behind early as Rhodes, on his home debut, did not need long to announce his arrival at Hillsborough, giving his side a ninth-minute lead.
It was a typical poacher moment from the prolific striker who was in the right place at the right time to head home Ross Wallace's free-kick and he kept it in the family with his celebration, sprinting straight to dad Andy, who is the Owls' goalkeeping coach.
Birmingham's response was spirited, though, and they hit the woodwork twice in the space of two minutes as they chased quick leveller.
First Owls midfielder Sam Hutchinson was fortunate to see his clearing header from Craig Gardner's dangerous delivery clip the outside of the post and then shortly after Emilio Nsue crashed a fierce effort into the other post from a narrow angle.
Rhodes' arrival on deadline day was not the first time Wednesday splashed the cash on a striker in January as Winnall had earlier made the short journey from Barnsley and he missed two good chances to break his duck, with the hosts beginning the second half well.
The first came as he was played in by Wallace but saw a low effort saved by Tomasz Kuszczak and then he headed a corner over soon after.
Birmingham again found their feet, though, and began to dominate both in terms of possession and territory, but they were continually let down by a lack of quality in the final third.
When they finally did produce a moment of brilliance they were again denied by the woodwork as Gardner's superb effort from distance crashed into the crossbar with Kieren Westwood beaten.
And Wednesday rubbed salt in the wounds by firing in two goals in the final 10 minutes to kill the game off.
Winnall got his moment in the limelight when he headed home Jack Hunt's wonderful delivery from close range and then Reach slotted home after bursting through the middle as the Owls scored more than two goals in a game for just the second time this season
Source : DSG
Source: DSG