Sheff Wed
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23 |
Johnson
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On The Bench
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8 |
McAllister
** (55)
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Norwich
On The Bench
Burton ghosted in to head home Tommy Spurr's fine cross to give the Owls a two-goal advantage with 15 minutes remaining.
The Wednesday striker had held his nerve in front an increasingly desperate home crowd to convert a 21st-minute penalty after Darren Huckerby had slammed home from 15 yards to give the Canaries a flying start.
The Owls, who needed a win to guarantee they stayed up, looked nervous in the opening exchanges and Matty Pattison and Dion Dublin were inches away from adding to the visitors' lead.
But Wednesday looked much more assured after the break and after Ben Sahar had eased fraying home nerves with a close-range second, Burton's second rendered results elsewhere on a nerve-jangling final day irrelevant.
Substitute Leon Clarke added a fourth for the home side in the 87th minute, bustling in on Bartosz Slusarski's pass and somehow keeping both his balance and the ball to poke home a fourth.
A crowd of 36,208 was not quite the biggest in the Football League this season - 38,256 had witnessed Leeds' win over Gillingham yesterday - but it was a fitting end for the Owls and popular manager Brian Laws, whose side has been decimated by injury throughout the campaign.
Jermaine Johnson returned to the Owls' starting line-up at right-back in place of skipper Lee Bullen, who succumbed to a hamstring strain.
Dion Dublin was back in Norwich's side for his final appearance and Darel Russell also returned.
Norwich made a stunning start to silence the Wednesday hordes, with Darren Huckerby, another who might not be at Carrow Road next season, combining with Dublin in the eighth minute to slice open the home defence.
Huckerby carried the ball to the edge of the penalty area and a deft one-two with Dublin set the former free in the box with time enough to dispatch his shot into the top left-hand corner.
The Owls defence was splintered again five minutes later and but for Grant's brilliant, one-handed reflex save Matty Pattison would have made it two-nil after Ched Evans had laid a golden chance on a plate.
Dublin was next to threaten Grant's goal when he headed Russell's right-wing cross narrowly wide.
But out of the blue Wednesday were handed a reprieve. Deon Burton and Jason Shackell went one-on-one for a ball over the top and referee Mark Clattenburg had no hesitation in awarding a penalty when the Owls striker went tumbling just inside the box - Burton himself coolly sidefooted home the spot-kick.
Evans looked to have lobbed Grant for Norwich's second in the closing stages, but his effort drifted just over.
But seven minutes after the restart it was Norwich's turn to be caught flat-footed.
The ball broke kindly for on-loan West Brom striker Slusarski following a half-cleared corner and after galloping to the byline the big Pole crossed for another loanee, Chelsea's Ben Sahar, to tap in at the far post.
Huckerby inexplicably missed the target with only the goalkeeper to beat immediately after, while at the other end Tommy Spurr saw his low left-footed effort blocked by sprawling Norwich goalkeeper David Marshall.
Dublin was given a standing ovation to mark the end of his colourful 22-year career when he was replaced by Jamie Cureton with 25 minutes left.
News filtered through that fellow strugglers Southampton had taken the lead for a third time against Wednesday's Steel City rivals Sheffield United.
But it appeared not to worry Laws' players at this stage and when Burton reacted quickest to another telling cross by Spurr from the left to head home a third goal, a party started on the terraces.
Clarke had not been on the pitch long in place of Sahar when he added the finishing touch to give the game a lop-sided scoreline, even though Wednesday deserved to take all three points.
