Source: FOOTYMAD
Ex-Owl does Wednesday a favour
Brunt goal gives Owls solace on a bad bank holiday afternoon Sheffield Wednesday could have former Hillsborough favourite Chris Brunt to thank come the end of the season should they manage to secure Championship safety. Brunt bagged an equaliser at Vicarage Road in the 6th minute of injury time for WBA, preventing Watford from picking up a vital 3 points and putting distance between them and the Owls in the relegation battle. Wednesday now trail Watford on goal difference after suffering a demoralising setback against Bristol City at Hillsborough. After a fairly even and largely uneventful first half at S6 Wednesday got on the front foot after the break but failed to make the most of their possession and were hit by a sucker punch with ten minutes remaining. Nicky Maynard was able to resist the challenges of three Owls players before beating Lee Grant for the only goal of the game. Wednesday failed to recover from this hammer blow and this evening they find themselves back in the bottom three as a result. Despite having almost double the amount of efforts on goal as their opponents Wednesday could not find a way past a young goalkeeper making his first start at this level and although Stephen Henderson did pull off a couple of good saves the Owls didn’t test him as much as they should have done given the amount of play they had in the Bristol half of the field. Although this was only Wednesday’s first defeat in seven games they have only managed to win one of these games and it is clear to see where the main problem lies at the moment. Alan Irvine has managed to tighten things up at the back of late but only Swansea, who have an exceptional defensive record, and the bottom two clubs have scored less Championship goals than the Owls this season and the team must find a solution to their scoring problems if they are to give themselves a chance of staying up as it looks as though at least two wins from the final four matches will be needed. Elsewhere at the wrong end of the table Crystal Palace leapfrogged the Owls with victory over Preston but Scunthorpe and Plymouth both suffered defeats at the hands of Swansea and Middlesbrough respectively. On Saturday the Owls travel to Middlesbrough, relegation rivals Watford and Plymouth face each other, Crystal Palace entertain QPR, who probably still require a few more points to ensure their safety and Scunthorpe travel to inconsistent Preston. Watford and Scunthorpe both still have a game in hand to play with both taking place on the 20th April when the Iron are at home to Reading and Watford go to QPR.
