Josh Windass and Michael Smith returned to the Sheffield Wednesday starting line-up to spark a turnaround 2-1 victory over bottom-placed Portsmouth.
Smith was only making his second start of the campaign, having found himself behind Jamal Lowe in Danny Rohl’s pecking order, while Windass has missed recent matches.
But after Connor Ogilvie’s first-half opener had given Pompey hope of a first home win of the season, Windass latched on to a Smith knockdown to level before Smith won it with a goal-of-the-season contender.
John Mousinho and Rohl both made five changes but one starter had waited longer than the others to make it into an XI.
Pompey goalkeeper Jordan Archer had not started a league match since May 2021 but came in after Nicolas Schmid suffered an injury in the defeat to Cardiff on Tuesday.
The former Millwall shot-stopper settled his nerves with an early catch from Smith’s looping header.
Wednesday completely changed their front line after back-to-back blanks but it was defender Liam Palmer who had the first sight at goal – his low, drilled strike deflected behind.
Striker Smith picked up on a weak clearance in the 19th minute but dragged his effort wide before Christian Saydee sliced horribly over in Pompey’s opening gambit.
Having found some sustained pressure, Callum Lang forced James Beadle into a strong diving save from a 30-yard free-kick.
Lang’s second free-kick was hit straight into the wall but it ricocheted into Mark O’Mahony and towards the bottom left corner of the goal with Beadle stranded, and Pol Valentin scampered back to clear off the line.
But the corner led to Pompey’s opener as Ogilvie thumped in his first goal since February.
Freddie Potts’ corner was flicked goalwards by O’Mahony before Beadle kept out Saydee’s point-blank effort but he could not do anything about Ogilvie smashing into the roof of the net at the far post.
Rohl had already been forced into swapping the injured Akin Famewo for Dominic Iorfa midway through the first half, but elected for a double tactical substitution at the break – with former Fratton favourite Jamal Lowe and Yan Valery introduced.
It was the third time Pompey had led at half-time but had not gone on to win any of those matches. So, there was little surprise when Wednesday drew level 10 minutes into the second half.
Barry Bannan used his left foot to lift to Smith at the back post before Windass rushed in unmarked to crash past Archer.
Windass’ leveller was emphatic, but Smith’s winner was a thing of beauty.
Valery picked out his run and without breaking stride Smith outrageously pinged into the top corner from around 25 yards.
Lang had a late chance to save a point, but his header cleared the bar as Wednesday rose up to 11th place.
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