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Coventry 1-1 Wednesday

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Image for Coventry 1-1 Wednesday

FORMER Owl Richard Wood thwarted Wednesday from getting all three points after Luke Varney had given the Owls the lead in a 1-1 stalemate at the Ricoh Arena.

Wood netted with just over ten minutes remaining after Varney had grabbed his second goal in as many games to give Alan Irvine’s men a 67th minute lead against the Sky Blues.

The point was enough to move the Owls five points clear of relegation trouble after all of the bottom three lost, while Wednesday also moved a position up the Championship table above Scunthorpe United.

It stretches Wednesday’s unbeaten run to five matches and will give Wednesdayites plenty of reasons to be cheerful in the battle against the drop.

Boss Irvine made just one forced change to the side that beat Watford in midweek with Leon Clarke replacing the injured Tommy Miller in the starting eleven.

The game started in lively fashion and Wednesday, buoyed by their last-gasp win against Watford, forced the first effort on goal when Darren Potter tested Keiren Westwood in the Sky Blues’ goal.

It didn’t take long for the hosts to respond and Mark Beevers had to be alert to block a Carl Baker effort before former Owls academy product Wood saw his header from the resulting corner cleared off the line by Potter.

But the Owls were more than a match for their hosts throughout and Eddie Nolan came close to making it two goals in as many games before being denied by Westwood while Marcus Tudgay glanced a header wide.

Wednesday also had a goal chalked off when the referee adjudged Tudgay to have fouled a City player before Clarke rifled his effort into the back of the net.

Half-Time: Coventry 1-1 Wednesday

Coventry boss Chris Coleman clearly wasn’t happy with the side’s first-half display and he made a double change at the interval.

Clinton Morrison, so often successful against the Owls, and David Bell were both introduced in place of Freddie Eastwood and former Blade Jon Stead to add different problems for the Owls’ back line.

And Morrison was almost celebrating the opener only for the referee to chalke off his ‘goal’ following good work by former Owls target Freddie Sears.

Both sides were going for maximum points and Varney and Clarke both went close to breaking the deadlock before the former finally found the back of the net on 69 minutes.

In-form Varney found his way by Martin Cranie before drilling a fine effort beyond Westwood to send the travelling Wednesdayites barmy.

It gave Irvine’s men something to hold on to for the final 20 minutes and they looked like they were going to after Coventry threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at Lee Grant’s goal.

The visitors looked to have held out before Wood popped up with the leveller just ten minutes later.

A long, hopeful ball forward saw the City stand-in skipper force his way in front of Grant to tap into the goal and give his side a share of the spoils – as well as silencing the chorus of booing directed his way from the away end throughout the match.

The Owls will have left feeling they deserved all three points from the clash, but had a point been offered before surely Irvine would have taken that – especially given the other results at the bottom end of the Championship.

Full-Time: Coventry 1-1 Wednesday

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