Wolves 4 Sheffield Wednesday 1


Chris Iwelumo made a memorable home league debut for Wolves by scoring twice in a deserved Coca-Cola Championship win over Sheffield Wednesday.

The summer signing from Charlton struck in the 28th minute to cancel out Dutchman Etienne Esajas' stylish opener and went on to score again early in the second half after Sylvan Ebanks-Blake converted a penalty.

Substitute David Edwards made it 4-1 in the dying minutes as Wednesday's early-season optimism was all but shattered in the space of 45 minutes.
Wednesday's collapse coincided with Esajas' half-time withdrawal through injury, and Wolves themselves had cause for concern when captain Jody Craddock hobbled off early on.

Mick McCarthy made two changes to the side that drew 2-2 at Plymouth last weekend, bringing in Iwelumo and Matt Jarvis for Andy Keogh and Stephen Ward.
Craddock, David Jones, Michael Kightly and Ebanks-Blake all returned after being rested for Tuesday's win over Accrington.
Injuries forced Owls boss Brian Laws into making changes of his own. Akpo Sodje and Marcus Tudgay - who each scored twice in the 4-1 win over Burnley - were out of contention, leaving Deon Burton as a lone frontman with former Wolves man Leon Clarke starting on the bench.

The match got under way in lively fashion and Wednesday goalkeeper Lee Grant was quickly called to save from Jarvis, before a swift Wednesday counter-attack resulted in Esajas firing just wide.
The hosts then suffered a blow when struggling Craddock made way for Neill Collins after only seven minutes. It went from bad to worse for Wolves after 15 minutes when Wednesday broke the deadlock in style.
Esajas stunned Molineux with a curling left-footed drive from the edge of the box which nestled emphatically in the right corner of Wayne Hennessey's goal.

But in the 28th minute, Iwelumo rose highest on the left side of the box to connect with Foley's swinging cross and power a header into the bottom left corner.
Burton, for Wednesday, and Kightly, for Wolves, both squandered excellent chances to hand their sides the lead as a hugely entertaining first half drew to a close.
Laws' luckless injury situation significantly worsened seconds into the second period when Esajas pulled up to be replaced by Clarke.
And if Wolves had struggled to assert a hold on the first half, they wasted little time in taking control of the second, and it took them just seven minutes to go in front.
Sean McAllister was adjudged to have brought down Jarvis inside the box and Ebanks-Blake blasted his penalty hard and low past Grant.
Five minutes later Iwelumo made it 3-1 for a now-rampant home side.
Kightly drilled a shot against the foot of the post, but the ball rebounded kindly for Iwelumo who made no mistake in slotting home into the bottom corner and handing the home side a timely two-goal cushion.
The departure of Esajas had taken the sting out of Wednesday's attack and they struggled to recreate the threat posed in the opening stages.
Richard Wood should have done better with a free header in the 72nd minute, but as the game neared its close, it only looked like Wolves who would increase their lead.
And after several attempts on the Wednesday goal, they did precisely that in the final moments.
Ebanks-Blake played in Edwards down the left and the midfielder slotted home calmly past Grant.