Wolves ease past Wednesday

Wolves kept their promotion hopes alive with a routine 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.Bakary Sako's penalty and Benik Afobe's 27th goal of the season sent Kenny Jackett's side on their way as they kept in touch with the top six in the Sky Bet Championship.James Henry then added the gloss to a comfortable victory meaning Wolves have lost just once in their last seven games.Tomasz Kuszczak saved well from Jacques Maghoma but Wednesday are left marooned in mid-table with little but pride to play for.Wolves made two changes as Scott Golbourne and Nouha Dicko replaced Kortney Hause and Henry, while Stevie May returned for Wednesday along with Maghoma and Marnick Vermijl.And the visitors threatened first as Atdhe Nuhiu and Tom Lees headed wide before Wolves took the lead in controversial fashion after 19 minutes.Dicko burst down the right and skipped past one sloppy Wednesday tackle but then went down under a soft challenge from Claude Dielna in the area and referee Simon Hooper gave a penalty.The forward looked to have fallen easily but Sako sent Keiren Westwood the wrong way from the spot for his 12th goal of the season.Maghoma fired at Kuszczak as the visitors tried to respond before Westwood saved well after Kevin McDonald squeezed in behind the Wednesday defence.And the keeper had to be at his best again on 31 minutes when he turned Dicko's 20-yard effort wide.A minute later and Jack Price shot straight at Westwood as Wednesday were once again opened up, this time by the lively Rajiv van La Parra.But Kuszczak kept Wolves ahead 10 minutes before the break when he clawed away Maghoma's header.The Wednesday striker had been their biggest threat and he shot just wide after the restart before Nuhiu headed over.Wolves' slow start gave the visitors encouragement but the hosts doubled their lead out of nothing on 55 minutes.Matt Doherty wriggled free on the right and crossed for the unmarked Afobe to thump a volley in off the post from 12 yards.With that Wednesday crumbled and Henry made it 3-0 12 minutes later with a classy strike when he cut inside and curled into the top corner from 20 yards.It was game over but Wolves suffered a blow when Richard Stearman was carried off on a stretcher with 16 minutes left after appearing to go down under little pressure to dampen their night.