Sheffield Wednesday 6 Leeds United 0

Leeds manager Brian McDermott described the derby defeat to Sheffield Wednesday as ‘a public humiliation’.

United somehow managed to plumb new depths after last week’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat at Rochdale as Wednesday ran riot in a goal feast.

The United chief said that was the low point in his managerial career but this defeat plunged the former Reading manager deeper into despair.

He called his players in today for a clear-the-air meeting after a fourth straight defeat dealt a huge blow to his play-off aspirations.

When asked if he could take any positives from his side’s display, McDermott said: “Are you serious?

“After that, in a local derby, it’s public humiliation as far as I’m concerned.

“That was just unbelievable. It doesn’t matter about being lower than the Roch-dale game, that’s just humiliating for all of us.

“I don’t distance myself from the players because I’m part of the group.

“We’ve had a good run to get to 35 points but we’re having a poor time now. It’s a terrible time for Leeds United, the supporters and us.”

Reda Johnson and Atdhe Nuhiu put Wednesday in control with first-half goals and, after Leeds substitute Matt Smith was sent off for his aerial challenge on Johnson seconds into the second half, the floodgates opened at Hillsborough.

Connor Wickham slammed home the third, Chris Maguire followed up with a deflected free-kick and one-time Bantams target Caolan Lavery fired a superb late double to seal Wednesday’s biggest-ever win against their White Rose rivals.

Wednesday caretaker boss Stuart Gray, who is hoping to get the job on a permanent basis, said: “Not many times during a season do you get the perfect result and the perfect performance. Every player put in an eight or nine out of ten performance.

“We put Leeds on the back foot. We got two goals up, you could see the confidence in the team.

“We didn’t take our foot off the gas and credit to the players for that. Our finishing was clinical.”