Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Swansea: Drab Affair Sees FA Cup Fifth Round Tie End All Square

17 February 2018 14:43

Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City's FA Cup fifth round tie will go to a replay after the sides played out a dull 0-0 at Hillsborough on Saturday. 

​With both teams struggling towards the bottom of their respective leagues, changes were aplenty. 

Jos Luhukay, who took over from Carlos Carvalhal at Hillsborough following his sacking back in December, made six changes to the side who beat Derby on Tuesday; with Cameron Dawson, Morgan Fox, David Jones, Jacob Butterfield, Ross Wallace and Atdhe Nuhiu all starting for the Owls. 


Carvalhal made seven changes to his side who beat ​Burnley on Saturday: Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Connor Roberts, Kyle Bartley, Luciano Narsingh, Wayne Routledge and Tammy Abraham all came into the starting line-up. Alfie Mawson was injured in the pre-match warm up and was subsequently replaced by Kyle Naughton. 

Adam Reach had the first chance of the game for the ​Championship side in the second minute. Nuhiu flicked on a header which found Reach breaking into the penalty area on the right, the midfielder hit a shot across goal from 10 yards out but it was too close to Nordfeldt and the Swans keeper managed to palm it away for a corner.  

The Owls continued to dominate possession in the opening exchanges while the Swans struggled to find any fluency in what was an encouraging start for the Championship side. 

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City - The Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round

Nevertheless, as the half wore on Swansea did start to push forward more and Carvalhal's side were nearly reward with the opening goal in the 36th minute. Naughton sent over a cross from the right which found an unmarked Mike van der Hoorn six yards out, the Dutchman powered his header towards goal but Dawson produced a remarkable save to tip it over the bar. 

It was the final chance of a turgid first-half which had seen just two shots on target. The only real snippets of quality had come from the two saves made by either goalkeeper. 

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City - The Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round

The second-half started in the same vein with neither side looking particularly threatening. 


Swansea made their first change of the game in the 64th which saw Narsingh replaced by Nathan Dyer. Two minutes later and Carvalhal opted to make another change as Tammy Abraham came off for Jordan Ayew. 


Ayew had Swansea's second shot on target a few moments later but his effort from 25 yards out bobbled comfortably into the hands of Dawson. 

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City - The Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round

​Sheffield Wednesday nearly took the lead in 77th minute after some good work from Nuhiu. Following a number of Cruyff turns, the striker found space on the right edge of the box to shoot but his low effort was straight at Nordfeldt and the Swans keeper claimed comfortably at his near post.


The Owls were inches away from winning it two minutes into stoppage time. Nuhiu and Joao exchanged a one-two on the edge of the ​Swans box before the former played in Reach inside the box on the right, the midfielder squared the ball across goal but Joao - who was just offside - was unable to finish the final chance of the game. 

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Source: 90min