Sheffield Wednesday have claimed their first Championship win under new manager Jos Luhukay by beating high-flying Derby County 2-0 at Hillsborough on Tuesday night.
The visitors began brightly as David Nugent, one of six changes made by Gary Rowett, volleyed wide on 90 seconds from Chris Baird's corner, but Owls goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith was not troubled.
Wednesday came close on the quarter-hour mark when Frederico Venancio headed Adam Reach's corner on target, but Rams custodian Scott Carson was on hand to make an easy catch.
Lucas Joao then went on to open the scoring on 18 minutes by latching on to Jack Hunt's layoff from Reach's crossfield pass before slotting the ball beneath Carson and into the Derby net.
The Portuguese added a second for the Owls just two minutes after the restart, taking advantage of a static Derby defence to bear down before rifling into the bottom corner of the net from 20 yards.
Derby set about trying to turn the game around and weighed in with numerous dangerous chances but Wildsmith kept out efforts from Nugent, Andreas Weimann and Matej Vydra as Wednesday claimed all three points.
The result is the Rams' first defeat since November, which keeps them a point behind second-placed Aston Villa, while the Owls climb two places to 15th in the table, nine points clear of the dropzone.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (4-4-2): Wildsmith; Hunt (Palmer 78'), Venancio, Loovens (Thorniley 86'), Pudil; Clare, Pelupessy, Reach, Boyd; Rhodes (Nuhiu 85'), Joao
DERBY COUNTY (4-2-3-1): Carson; Baird, Keogh, Davies, Forsyth; Huddlestone, Ledley (Anya; 74'); Weimann, Vydra (Palmer 82'), Johnson; Nugent (Jerome 82')
Giuseppe Labellarte
