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Lucas Joao has scored nine goals in 29 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday this season

Sunderland suffered a setback in their fight against relegation with defeat by Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday took the lead after a first half of few chances, Lucas Joao firing in from Atdhe Nuhiu's header.

But Sunderland responded immediately, George Honeyman heading Lynden Gooch's cross in at the far post.

Tom Lees restored the Owls' lead, firing in Joey Pelupessy's free-kick delivery from close range, before Nuhiu headed in to secure the three points.

The Kosovo striker's goal, his fifth in three games, ensured Sheffield Wednesday would move up to 16th in the table, 13 points clear of the relegation zone.

Defeat for Sunderland kept them 23rd in the division, five points adrift of safety with only six games left this season.

The Black Cats were made to pay for not taking advantage of a strong first-half performance, Donald Love firing their best chance of the opening 45 minutes over from just outside the box.

Chris Coleman's side, already without a number of players because of injuries and suspensions, suffered another blow in the second half when Bryan Oviedo was injured and taken off the pitch.

They are now level on points with bottom side Burton, facing an increasingly difficult task to avoid dropping to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1987.

Sunderland boss Chris Coleman told BBC Newcastle:

"If you look at the stats, we doubled everything Sheffield did, overall I thought the endeavour was there, they played without fear, we got bodies forward.

"Two of three goals we gave away were our own mistakes and that's disappointing.

"It's really hard for me to criticise the team, we did enough to win it, but we ended up losing 3-1."

Sheffield Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay told BBC Sheffield:

"I am proud of my team, we are working hard for each other.

"It was not an easy game, but we are in good shape at the moment and good confidence.

"We have strikers who need not a lot of chances, in the second half we were very effective."