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Carl Baker and Nicky Maynard both scored as MK Dons lifted themselves out of the Championship relegation zone with victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

Baker put the hosts in front with a fine solo goal before Maynard was sent clear of the Owls defence to score.

Wednesday's Ross Wallace crossed for fellow substitute Gary Hooper to pull one back late on.

But the hosts saw the game out to move above Bristol City, who lost at Derby, and Charlton, who drew with Bolton.

A point now separates MK Dons from the bottom three after their first victory in six matches against an Owls side that could have gone into the play-off places had they won.

Instead, Wednesday slip to ninth in the Championship and find themselves four points behind sixth-placed Ipswich with one match to play before Christmas.

Owls boss Carlos Carvalhal's decision to make a third and final substitution as early as the 56th minute showed how much the visitors struggled, and Maynard came close to a third for the Dons when his shot on the turn from outside the box was pushed away by Keiren Westwood.

Fernando Forestieri was denied by a terrific save from Dons' goalkeeper David Martin and Hooper's strike was too little too late.

MK Dons boss Karl Robinson: "We're not going to get too disheartened when we drop into the bottom three and we're not going to get too excited when we get out of it.

"It's important we sustain our mentality, our focus, our desire and our commitment to the football club and if we do so then we'll win more games than we have done in the first part of the season.

"The first half was as good a 45 minutes as we've seen. To dominate a top-six team who have spent millions, it made for a deserved win."

Sheffield Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal: "In the first half, we were a shadow of our team. We had a lot of problems in controlling the ball and we missed a lot of passes, which is not normal in our team.

"We brought it back to 2-1 and we tried to go for the draw and the only positive part of the game was the way we reacted and finished the game."