Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 Scunthorpe United
Report from Hillsborough

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United were thumped 4-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship on Saturday.

Scunthorpe never recovered after an early onslaught from the hosts, who saw Richard Wood and Jermaine Johnson notch in the first 14 minutes.

Rob Jones was stretchered off with a worrying injury for the visitors, and Marcus Tudgay added to the scoring before half-time.

Darren Potter scored their fourth soon after the break as Wednesday ran riot against an out of sorts Iron.

They entered the fixture making no changes from the team which narrowly lost 2-0 to Middlesbrough in midweek.

Michael O'Connor passed a late fitness test to shake off a knock and start.

Joe Murphy started in goal, with the defence consisting of Jordan Spence, Cliff Byrne, Rob Jones and Marcus Williams.

The midfield lined up as Matt Sparrow, O'Connor, Grant McCann and Martyn Woolford, while Paul Hayes partnered Gary Hooper up front.

The substitutes were Josh Lillis, Sam Togwell, Garry Thompson, Jonathan Forte, Josh Wright, Niall Canavan and Ian Morris.

The Owls attacked well to begin with, with the front two of Marcus Tudgay and Luke Varney proving a danger. Within two minutes too, Jones required treatment for the Iron. He recovered though.

Murphy was then drawn into pulling off a superb stop from Tudgay, who was played through by Michael Gray and tried to force the ball past the Irishman from the left-hand side.

From the subsequent corner by Potter, Wood climbed highest to head home past Murphy for the opening goal.

The Owls' pressure continued, and Varney headed over from a Tommy Spurr cross soon after.

Nevertheless, they doubled their advantage on 12 minutes when they attacked and the ball fell invitingly to Johnson, who smashed the ball past Murphy and into the back of the United net.

The first Scunthorpe chance of the day came two minutes later when Hayes turned and fired in a shot which was deflected just wide of goal.

It was at this point that the visitors were showing more urgency going forward, but the hosts were holding firm.

Murphy was drawn into another save from Tudgay's header shortly after as Wednesday looked to kill the game off.

Owls captain Darren Purse then headed narrowly wide from a Tudgay knock-down. MUrphy fumed at his defence, while boss Adkins wrote notes frantically.

Varney came ever so close to making it three, but Murphy got a touch to his goal-bound shot to deflect the ball wide after he was played through one-on-one.

Seconds later, Jones picked up an injury after a collision and had to be stretchered off after a five-minute delay. Canavan replaced him for his first competitive run-out - a big moment for the ex-youth team defender.

Wednesday's O'Connor, James, drew another decent stop from Murphy shortly after. Latching on to a knockdown to fire in a shot from the left which the goalkeeper tipped out.

It didn't take long for the Owls to add their third, however, with Tudgay climbing to power a header beyond Murphy on 34 minutes.

Hayes and Woolford linked up well shortly after to fashion a chance, but the former's shot was blocked.

Then, just before the break, Hayes got on the end of a Woolford cross but volleyed a speculative effort well wide. It was the last real action of the first half.

Scunthorpe made a substitution at the break, with Josh Wright coming on for O'Connor.

The first chance of the second half came the way of Johnson for Wednesday, who saw his attempt to lob Murphy off his line go wide.

Soon after, United had their first chance of the half when Hayes headed wide from a McCann corner.

The Owls were soon four up though when Potter rifled home from the edge of the penalty area after the Iron had failed to clear.

Togwell replaced McCann immediately after.

The home team cut apart the United defence again on 64 minutes as Tudgay raced through and had all the time in the world to plant a shot past Murphy. However, the visiting custodian made another great block.

Hayes had the next United chance on 71 minutes when he turned his man before striking a shot across goal from the left and wide.

He then headed wide from a Wright corner on 79 minutes as the away team tried to pull a goal back.

There were few more real chances as the game, slowly for visiting fans, drew to a climax.

United are next in action on Tuesday night when they visit Swansea City in the second round of the Carling Cup.

Attendance: 20,215 (1,500 away approx).