Sheffield Wednesday 0 Wolves 1 - Post analysis
Mar 9 2009 by Lisa Smith, Birmingham Post
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0 WOLVES 1
Twenty-five years ago this week Yorkshiremen were up in arms, engaged in the Miners’ Strike and battling for the right to work just to survive.
Brian Laws’ Sheffield Wednesday side might not be facing a fight for survival and they certainly weren’t the pits but they did face a battle to contain a Wolves side who – first-half at least – looked back on their mettle and over their recent “blip” in results.
Mick McCarthy’s Coca-Cola Championship-leaders had been determined to continue where they left off with victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night and were at the races within just five minutes thanks to the country’s top marksman, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
Ebanks-Blake showed just why he is the chief contender for the league’s Golden Boot for the second consecutive season slamming home a sweet Michael Kightly cross following a Kevin Foley throw-in. The goal was the England-Under 21 star’s 23rd of the season and set Wolves up nicely. The 3,000 travelling Wanderers’ fans must have assumed they were in for a goal fest.
But although Mick McCarthy’s side resoundly ruled the midfield and created several chances they could not find the net again.
Kightly might himself have added his eighth goal of the season before being denied by keeper Lee Grant. And then George Friend – in for the injured Matt Jarvis – was threatening with a brillaint glancing header which flew just a whisker wide.
McCarthy had made just one change from the side who won at Selhurst Park with Dave Jones in the midfield for suspended skipper Karl Henry who is out for two games after totting up ten bookings. Jones has had to bide his time for a place and did not disappoint playing alongside Dave Edwards and splaying the ball out to Kightly and Friend on the flanks.
Wolves were rarely troubled over the opening 45 minutes although Owls’ striker Jermaine Johnson was guilty of squandering the best chance of the game when he blasted the ball over the net and high into the stands after getting the better of Matty Hill and Jody Craddock.
In the second half, Brian Law’s side showed a lot more resilience and managed to get back into the danger zones with both Jamie O’Connor and Wednesday’s star man Marcus Tudgay forcing saves from Wayne Hennessey.
But Wolves hung on to secure all three points – even surviving a late scare as Tudgay’s free kick went agonisingly close after a foul by sub Richard Stearman.
Wednesday featured former Wolves midfielder Micky Gray who was warmly received by the visiting fans although ex-Wanderers striker Leon Clarke was not so lucky. Supporters have always felt he did not contribute enough.
That could not be said of Ebanks-Blake, Chris Iwelumo or Kightly although the winger did pick up a hamstring strain at the end and is now a doubt for tomorrow’s visit of Ipswich town to Molineux.
The Wolves boss said: “It makes a pleasant change for us to score first.
“We have been pushing treacle up hill in some of our recent matches so it was nice to be holding on to a lead rather than chasing one. People are saying now we have got over our wobble – well I hope that is the case. The performances would suggest that and now the results would as well. But we have played well these last two games.”
McCarthy added: “Kightly has been a joy to watch but we might not be allowed to watch him now on Tuesday. We will see how he is.”
Scorers: Ebanks-Blake, 5.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: (4-4-2) Grant, Buxton, Hinds, Wood, Spurr, Johnson, O’Connor (Boden, 86), McAllister, Gray (Sodje, 69) Clarke (Jeffers, 45), Tudgay.
WOLVES: (4-4-2) Hennessey, Foley, Berra, Craddock, Hill, Kightly (Stearman, 84), Edwards, Jones, Friend (S.Ward, 69), Ebanks-Blake (Keogh, 76) Iwelumo.
Referee: Scott Mathieson (Cheshire)
Bookings: Hill, (58, foul on Johnson),Stearman, (89, foul on Jeffers)
Keogh (82, foul on Spurr )
Attendance: 23,703
Wolves star man: Sylvan Ebanks-Blake – scoring for fun as he canters towards a second consecutive Golden Boot award
