Sheffield Wednesday ended a run of 4 straight defeats on Sunday with a crucial 1-0 win over bitter city rivals Sheffield United at a packed Hillsborough thanks to Chris O’Grady’s 2nd half goal.
Gary Megson’s side came into the game as underdogs on the back of their worst run of the season with their neighbours opening up a sizable cushion between themselves and the Owls for the 2nd automatic promotion spot. Despite this the old cliché of the form book going out of the window as far as derby games are concerned rang true as the home side deservedly took the points.
Rumours were rife that Gary Megson’s job as Owls boss was under severe threat going into the game. The visitors had a 5 point lead on their hosts going into the game and with United having 2 matches in hand anything less than 3 points would have made automatic promotion look a long way off for Wednesday.
Although his team had the opportunity to put Wednesday almost out of the picture Danny Wilson’s selection aired on the side of caution. Without the services of injured midfielder Kevin McDonald the Blades fielded experienced defensive minded central midfielder Nick Montgomery.
The former Owls midfielder’s side started well enough with full-back Lowton causing problems as a result of Prutton tucking in too much in Wednesday’s midfield and allowing the visitors too much space out wide. United came close to opening the scoring after 15 minutes when Williamson’s free-kick struck the bar and bounced down close to the goal line.
The midfielder, who scored on the Blades last visit to S6, was to let himself down later in the half with a pathetic dive in the hope of winning a penalty which he should really have been booked for.
At the other end Reda Johnson headed over from a corner, Ryan Lowe was inches away from converting a Michail Antonio cross from close range, Lines saw a tame free-kick easily gathered by Simonsen and Prutton saw a shot from the edge of the area blocked.
United continued to threaten down Wednesday’s left and Evans was robustly challenged by Batth and Buxton when well positioned but in truth there was little to test either keeper during the first 45 minutes.
It may be that something was said at half-time to address the problems the visitors had caused down the Owls left side in first half but whether or not this was the case the home side did a much better job of containing this after the break and as a result the threat from the visitors became almost non existent.
Antonio provided a cross for O’Grady which came to nothing early in the 2nd half then the bigger striker showed his strength to hold off defenders, bursting forward and driving narrowly wide from the edge of the area. United seemed happy to hold what they had and with the impetus on the Owls to try and get the much-needed 3 points Megson made 2 substitutions close to the hour mark, replacing Lowe with top scorer Madine and bringing winger Mike Jones on for Prutton. Antonio’s long throws were providing a threat as Wednesday contained much of the play in the United half but it was from open play that the breakthrough came.
Buxton came forward from right-back and a neat exchange with Antonio gave him the space to pick out O’Grady with a pinpoint cross and the striker glanced his header into the far corner of the goal past the sprawling Simonsen.
The Blades responded with a tame long-range free-kick from Evans that barely made it to the goal before Bywater fell on it. With the Owls looking assured at this stage Wilson tried to respond with 3 late substitutions, throwing on Flynn, followed by Hoskins and Beattie. Owls captain Rob Jones thwarted Hoskins in the closing stages with a perfectly timed tackle and as the game ticked into stoppage time Hoskins headed straight at Bywater from close range, allowing the keeper the opportunity to tip his effort over the bar. Wednesday saw out the 4 minutes of injury time that followed with relative ease to claim a much needed victory.
United may still hold the advantage in the League One table but on a day when they could have dealt the Owls a severe blow and put distance between themselves and fellow promotion hopefuls Huddersfield and MK Dons they came out 2nd best as Megson’s Owls claimed a well deserved win to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.
Source: FOOTYMAD
