Sheffield Wednesday's open wound is beginning to scar as familiar second half costs at Birmingham City

At times it's wobbly, at times lacking control. Balance is an issue. But in large moments they look smooth and savvy, their hair billowing in the breeze as they hurtle downhill, parents looking on with pride and promise.

The problem is, time and again and again and again, they've found a way to fall off and graze their knee. Often it's been nobody's fault really; unseen pothole, a stick in the spokes. Sometimes they just steer into a wall when nobody's looking. It's the periods of promise shown in matches at Watford, Plymouth, against Millwall and again at Birmingham. And then they crash, a wheel falls off and they're tending to a wound again, wondering what might have been.

Much of the first half of their 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City on Saturday was everything you'd want to see. They were the better team, darting into a bright start, popping the ball about and making a subdued St Andrews Park their own. Mallik Wilks, a surprise starter, buzzed about with danger. Josh Windass, too. Dominic Iorfa galloped down the wing with pace, some of Barry Bannan's passing gave off vibes he was attempting a Wayne Rooney impression in front of Wayne Rooney.

By the time Byers reacted quickest to stroke Windass' long-range free-kick into the net on 45 minutes, Wednesday on another day could have had two or three. A lick more confidence and you think they may well have done, with Bannan's curled cross to find Windass just after the half-hour a thing of witchcraft. A goal's lead was fair and just, it was felt. And then.. a stick in the spokes.

The hosts hadn't laid much of a glove on things in the first period. Jay Stansfield had enjoyed a couple of half-moments, Bambo Diaby defied the logic of his suit measurements to act as a contortionist and hook away a dangerous cross from the left. When the ball made its way to Juninho Bacuna less than an advert break's worth of time after Byers' opener, four Owls players belted their way towards it. That his well-struck effort squeezed through a gap the size of a bicycle wheel to beat an unsighted Dawson was typical of Wednesday's recent luck. A grazed knee and sniffles at half-time.

The second half ebbed and flowed one way and then the other. Neither of these teams look much like a side aiming for anything other than safety this season and it showed; moments of quality outstripped by slips and stop-start defending. Wednesday seemed to tire, their subs made an impact, but it was perhaps the Blues that showed a little bit more, buoyed by the final seconds of the first half no doubt.

And this is where it all falls down, isn't it? Because for all the brightness of the improvements Sheffield Wednesday have made in recent weeks, the improvement in results isn't coming. They may well do of course; just about every available data metric is suggesting they will do, but they're not. Happy half-hours in the games listed above have ended in disappointment, a two-week kickstart in fortunes returning the same harsh reality.

The fact is that Birmingham City weren't very good on Saturday. They arrived winless in five and their crowd arrived with a collective shrug of the shoulders. When Jordan James finished in the 81st minute, it all felt gut-punchingly familiar. The subs came, they huffed and they puffed, but Wednesday never really looked like equalising.

Try as they may have done, Sheffield Wednesday left the Midlands with yet another grazed knee and tears before bedtime. Draws for Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town means the pool of blood is building and as far as the relegation battle is concerned, they're running out of plasters and the wound is beginning to scar. The gap is 10 points.