Chelters

Have to take that today. Preston low quality but well organised and a horrible day to play football.

Ref doesn’t need much of an excuse to give a free kick does he

Got ‘one of those days’ written all over it this

Technically I believe they do but they usually have exemption from filing at Co House so no one would really be checking.

Saturday 3 December 1994 FA Carling Premiership Crystal Palace (home) Still sitting in the bottom half of the table in 15th place and showing no major signs of the surge in form that had followed a slow start to the season in previous years, the Owls entertained Crystal Palace at Hillsborough in what felt like a bit of a must-win game, Palace were a bit of a yo-yo team at this point in time, having secured promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt after relegation in 1993. They had acquitted themselves reasonably well on their return, though, and actually sat a couple of places above Wednesday going into this game. There was some positive news on the injury front as Mark Bright returned up front, with Gordon Watson dropping out. But, more excitingly, on the bench and in the squad for the first time this season was a certain Christopher Roland Waddle. It had been a long wait for the Waddler to return to fitness after a pre-season injury, and a recent reserve game in which he made his initial comeback had attracted a massive crowd. Hopefully this could be the sort of boost that the Owls needed to kickstart the season? As mentioned previously, the real problem was scoring goals, with the team failing to score more than a single goal in a game in the last 8 fixtures, and only once in the last 13, despite creating numerous chances. Was this the sort of game where that could change? The first half was quite an even affair, with the visitors giving as good as they got. The first chance of the game fell to the Eagles as quickfire front duo Chris Armstrong and John Salako created a chance for Andy Preece, who sent a curling effort just wide. The next chance fell to Wednesday with Bright shooting over the bar, but the breakthrough came just before the 20 minute mark. John Sheridan played a short free kick to Chris Bart-Williams that caught the otherwise stubborn Palace defence off-guard, Bartman took steps towards goal before hitting a low 20-yarder into the bottom corner past Nigel Martyn. Graham Hyde had a decent chance that he scooped over later in the half but the Owls were happy to go in at the break a goal up. The second half saw lots of possession from Wednesday but Palace looking very dangerous on the break. In the middle of the half the visitors looked particularly threatening and were twice denied by sharp saves from Kevin Pressman, one from an Armstrong header and the other from a Dean Gordon free-kick. With 15 minutes to go the home crowd got what they wanted as Waddle emerged from the bench to replace Ian Taylor. In fact, he had emerged a bit earlier but couldn't get on the pitch due to the small matter of not actually having a shirt on. Despite looking a bit rusty, Waddle's quality helped the Owls exert a bit more control back on the game and see it out. There were a couple of chances for Hyde and Bright but in the end another clean sheet meant that the missed chances didn't matter for once. Despite the continuing lack of goals, the win meant it was 8 points from 4 games as a little unbeaten league run had started to develop. With key players returning from injury, was this the start of the lift-off? I guess we'll find out...... Final score : Wednesday 1-0 Palace Wednesday : Pressman, Petrescu, Nolan, Atherton, Pearce, Taylor (Waddle 76), Hyde, Sheridan, Sinton, Bart-Williams, Bright. Unused subs : Watts, Key Palace : Martyn, Humphrey, Gordon, Coleman, Shaw, Bowry (Ndah 67), Southgate, Newman, Salako, Preece, Armstrong. Unused subs : Wilmot, Pitcher Attendance : 21,930

Forget Danny’s tactical genius, this was the real turning point today.

Shea Charles might be our best centre back as well as our best midfielder.

Can we just forfeit games at Pride Park and save ourselves the bother? Still traumatised by the game in 2000.

Iorfa doesn’t work as the central defender for me, it’s not his game. Ihiekwe does it a lot better.

Wednesday 30 November 1994 Coca Cola Cup 4th Round Arsenal (away) For the second time in the month the Owls travelled to Highbury, this time in the League Cup. A creditable 0-0 draw had been achieved in the league game a few weeks earlier, although the home side had been without arch-nemesis Ian Wright on that occasion, but he was back in the lineup for this one. Arsenal were not on a great run of form and had some injuries, so this seemed a great chance to gain a bit of revenge for those defeats in the 1993 cup finals. Wednesday's cause was not helped by the loss of captain Des Walker through injury, meaning Ian Taylor returned to the side, Dan Petrescu reverted to right back and Peter Atherton went into the centre to join Andy Pearce. Other than that the Owls were unchanged, but it was good to see Ryan Jones return on the bench, where Julian Watts also appeared in the squad for the first time this season. After every single recent game seemed to follow the pattern of Wednesday failing to take several chances, surely this would finally be different. Er, well no actually, I know this is getting a bit boring now but it was exactly the same story once again. Most of the chances were missed in the first 20 minutes, with Chris Bart-Williams being the main culprit. After just five minutes, the young makeshift striker was played through by John Sheridan after a neat move. Bartman rounded the keeper but, with the goal gaping, scuffed his effort into the side netting. Next up was a great move which saw a brilliant sliderule pass from Andy Sinton set Ian Nolan down the left, his low cross was met firmly by Taylor, but somehow David Seaman kept it out as the ball went under his body but hit his elbow and diverted the ball across goal. Bart-Williams then missed another good chance, firing over after Sheridan found him in the area. Then, just before the half hour mark, the inevitable happened as the Owls were made to pay for all the missed chances. It was another familiar face who got the goal, as Steve 'is he injured or has he been dropped' Morrow ran through the centre unchallenged - even being allowed to do a complete 360 degree at one point, before curling a shot past Kevin Pressman. It was only Morrow's second goal of his career, the other of course also coming against Wednesday. The Owls should have equalised almost immediately as Bart-Williams did really well to bring down a high ball into the box and set up Sinton, but the winger dragged his shot wide when it looked easier to score. Within 5 minutes Wednesday were again made to pay and no surprise in who scored. Atherton's attempted header was more up than out and Wright was allowed all the time in the world to let the ball drop and slam a left foot volley into the net. Into the second and the Owls were given a glimmer of hope as Seaman was forced off through injury and rookie keeper Vince Bartram came on for his debut. He was called into action a couple of times, firstly a low Petrescu effort then a firm header by Taylor, but was equal to the efforts on both occasions. The home side created one or two chances, the best probably being a Wright header well held by Pressman. As the clock ran down the visitors created another great move that ended in Graham Hyde's far post header being cleared off the line by Lee Dixon, another 'how the hell did we not score' moment. So the Gunners went through with a barely deserved victory as the Owls were once again made to rue missed chances, although on this occasion there as a sizeable dose of bad luck mixed into the lack of finshing ability. Time to concentrate on the league then with a winnable looking game at home to Crystal Palace coming up and the return of a much missed hero...... FInal score : Arsenal 2-0 Wednesday Arsenal : Seaman (Bartram 45), Dixon, Winterburn, Adams, Bould, McGoldrick (Dickov 69), Morrow (Keown 72), Schwarz, Campbell, Wright, Smith. Wednesday : Pressman, Petrescu, Nolan, Atherton, Pearce, Taylor., Hyde, Sheridan, Sinton, Bart-Williams, Watson (Jones 61). Unused subs : Watts, Key

Sunday 27 November 1994 FA Carling Premiership Aston Villa (away) The Owls were back in front of the Sky TV cameras on a wet and miserable day at Villa Park hoping to ignite their season and finally convert some chances into goals. Villa had a new manager after the appointment of Brian Little, this was following a certain Ron Atkinson becoming a victim of deadly Doug Ellis a couple of weeks earlier. To be fair Big Ron's sacking was not that much of a surprise with Villa, despite a decent looking squad, struggling at the wrong end of the table. Wednesday's recent record at Villa Park wasn't great, the only win being the 1-0 victory in 1991-92 when a Nigel Jemson header was judged to be over the line, a decision that, not for the first time against Wednesday, induced a Hulk-like rage in the volatile Les Sealey. It was therefore somewhat frustrating that, in true Wednesday style, the visit was timed for the honeymoon of the new boss, rather than under the failing relationship of the old boss. The Owls were without Mark Bright, meaning Gordon Watson returned up front with Chris Bart-Williams as the options up front started to look very limited indeed - other than this the lineup was unchanged from the victory over West Ham as the side was starting to become very settled despite the tedious run of results. Villa had the dangerous looking pairing of Dean Saunders and Dalian Atkison in attack - both of whom were not shy of a goal against Wednesday. There was another familiar face at left back as Wiltshire's finest Phil King lined up against his old club. Totally as expected, the home side came out firing for the new regime and took the lead as early as the 15th minute. Paul McGrath did well to win a header from a deep corner, Saunders headed towards goal and, after Kevin Pressman acrobatically turned the ball away, Atkinson was there to smash the ball home on the volley. The home side certainly had a spring in their step and Pressman was increasingly busy with a double stop from Saunders and then a brilliant tip onto the post from Graham Fenton's volley on the turn. It had not been completely one-way traffic though as Wednesday played their part in the first half and had plenty of the ball, but as usual failed to create or take any meaningful chances. 12 minutes into the second half it all changed with a goal from an unlikely source. King played a rather ill-judged back pass that Mark Bosnich had to clear left footed to avoid giving away a corner. The ball fell towards Peter Atherton who chested the ball down and hit a dipping shot from 25 yards that flew over the Aussie stopper and in off the bar. It was a fantastic finish and only Atnerton's second goal of his entire career (the first coming at Wigan). The same player then had another effort that Bosnich held onto as the Owls suddenly sniffed blood. The home side were deflated and the lack of confidence started to show as Wednesday created chances. Watson was being a pest up front and the best chance was caused when he challenged Bosnich, with the ball falling to Dan Petrescu who casually lifted the ball over the top when he should have done better (although it may have been disallowed anyway). The best chance for the home side was a Guy Whittingham header that was comfortably saved by Pressman. And so, for the umpteenth time in the season, the Owls left with less than their overall play deserved, but no more than their ability to take chances allowed them. In fact, it was now a run of just one game in the last 14 where they had managed to score more than a single goal, 2 in 17 if you included cup games. With David Hirst out injured long term, Mark Bright not firing as he was the previous season, Chris Bart-Williams not really a true striker and Gordon Watson being more of an impact sub, it wasn't difficult to see where the problem was, doing something about it was another matter although the two substitutes used in this game were going to give a clue as to where the solution eventually lay..... Final score : Aston Villa 1-1 Wednesday Villa : Bosnich, Barrett, King, McGrath, Ehiogu, Parker, Fenton, Richardson, Houghton, Saunders, Atkinson (Whittingham 69). Unused subs : Boden, Spink Wednesday : Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Pearce, Walker, Petrescu, Hyde, Sheridan, Sinton, Bart-Williams, Watson (Taylor 73). Unused subs : Poric, Key Attendance : 25,082

Saturday 19 November 1994 FA Carling Premiership West Ham United (home) After a couple of weeks off for the international break, the Owls returned to action with a visit from Harry Redknapp's happy Hammers. Neither side had particularly set the league on fire at this stage, with Wednesday still struggling at sixth from bottom, and West Ham three places and three points ahead. Reading down the list of the visitors' squad in the programme it seems that this was a team full of nutcases : Julian Dicks, Martin Allen and John Moncur in particular were all not just a few sandwiches, but also a family size pork pie, tube of Pringles and cheeseboard short of a picnic. Add to that the not-exactly-best-of-pals (for reasons that I will not go into here but I think we all know) Ian Bishop and Trevor Morley, eccentric goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko, the also a bit dodgy Don Hutchison and a certain Lee Chapman and it was quite the colourful squad. The Owls made one change to the team that had achieved a creditable draw at Highbury but were desperately short of goals, with Dan Petrescu coming back into right midfield for Ian Taylor. It was the visitors who started the better as Wednesday seemed a bit sluggish after the recent break. They got a few corners in the opening minutes and then missed a golden chance through Tony Cottee as the diminutive striker hooked over from a Matthew Rush cross when he should have done better. From this point, Wednesday were able to exert some control on the match and started to improve. Miklosko made a brilliant save from a Chris Bart-Williams effort in the 11th minute but just before the half hour the Owls got themselves in front. Mark Bright got a flick on from an aerial ball which dropped to Bart-Williams, who showed composure to drive across the area and slip a lovely ball into the box for Petrescu. The Romanian cleverly let the ball run before producing a lovely little left-foot chipped finish over Miklosko for his second Wednesday goal. It was almost two straight away as from the next attack the lively Bart-Williams headed against the crossbar. Into the second half, there was a scare for the home side early on when Kevin Pressman smothered at the feet of Rush. After this though, the half settled into the now very familiar pattern of Wednesday creating and missing chances. Substitute Gordon Watson probably had the best couple of chances, one of which saw another good save from the Hammers' goalkeeper. Thankfully there was no punishment for the Owls failing to get a second as they saw out a 1-0 win, and a much needed one at that. It wasn't quite as joyous as the previous season's 5-0 romp but a win's a win. Having said that, there was still work to do and the continuing lack of goals was making it more than a little tedious for Wednesdayites. Final score : Wednesday 1-0 West Ham Wednesday : Pressman, Atherton, Nolan, Pearce, Walker, Petrescu (Taylor 60), Hyde, Sheridan, Sinton, Bart-Williams (Watson 66), Bright. Unused sub : Key West Ham : Miklosko, Brown, Dicks, Potts, Martin, Rush, Moncur, Allen (Marsh 37), Bishop, Morley, Cottee. Unused subs : Rowland, Feuer Attendance : 25,350

Ref is buying everything they’re selling. Time and time again.

I know, but give me some artistic licence!

Just over seven years ago an away team arrived at a Sheffield derby as underdogs. They were not far out of a spell in League One and had a highly rated up and coming manager. The home side had the better squad on paper, with some players costing millions, and were quietly confident that their superior quality would see them through. The away side went for it and made a mockery of the apparent superiority of the home side, winning with room to spare and having one of their best derby wins ever, and have had the bragging rights ever since. It has happened before and it can happen again. Time for the worm to turn. Come on Wednesday.