Sheffield Wednesday drop to bottom after defeat at Charlton

Sheffield Wednesday dropped to the bottom of the Championship table after a 2-1 loss at Charlton, with Owls goalkeeper Ethan Horvath sent off in second-half added time.

It capped off a miserable week for crisis-hit Wednesday, who are set to be served with a winding up petition by HMRC.

Sonny Carey and Reece Burke scored for the Addicks in a dominant first period but Jamal Lowe cut the deficit to set up a nervy finale.

Charlton came out quickly and Max Lowe made a vital block on an early Burke strike.

Wednesday’s best chance of the opening 45 minutes came in the 11th minute but Jamal Lowe could only head the ball straight at Addicks goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski from very close range.

Charlton opened the scoring in the 17th minute with Carey collecting his third goal of the campaign. The summer signing from Blackpool was initially denied by Horvath but followed up to lift a cool finish into the top right of the net.

The visitors’ defence regularly looked uncomfortable as the Addicks pressed aggressively and it needed a last-second block by Gabriel Otegbayo to frustrate Charlie Kelman inside the penalty area.

Carey was proving to be an uncontainable influence and his wicked cross was begging for a finishing touch that never came in the 32nd minute.

Charlton extended their lead in first-half stoppage time. James Bree’s free-kick was headed in at the near post by centre-back Burke, his first goal since joining from Luton in July.

Even the normally talismanic Barry Bannan was out of sorts for the visitors, summed up by the Scot overhitting a couple of routine crossfield passes out of play.

Svante Ingelsson headed over for Wednesday early in the second half from Max Lowe’s deep cross.

But then Horvath needed to show strong hands to push away another Carey attempt from the edge of the penalty area.

Charlton’s intensity dipped after that as Wednesday began to build some sustained pressure.

Bannan was presented with a shooting chance from a direct free-kick but sent it harmlessly straight at Kaminski.

Jamal Lowe made amends for smashing wildly over from the left-hand side of the box when he reacted quickest to convert after substitute Sean Fusire’s shot came back off the right post in the 69th minute.

Ike Ugbo was unable to direct a diving header goalbound for Wednesday, who continued to ask questions of the hosts until the dismissal of Horvath.

He was shown a straight red card by referee Tom Reeves for wiping out Isaac Olaofe as the pair competed for a ball just outside the Owls’ penalty area late on.