Look Back At The Owls Week – Wigan, Bristol & Birmingham

Our last two home games were absolute thrillers. We came from behind twice in the space of a week at Hillsborough to snatch an impressive six points, making the table look at lot healthier for Owls fans.

Wigan came to S6 on Saturday after a somewhat shaky start to their first season back in the Championship. Yet it was the travelling side who had the best of the opening exchanges and saw reward for this inside five minutes. An uncharacteristic mistake from makeshift Captain, Tom Lees saw the ball intercepted and zipped out to the left wing. A whipped in ball found Wigan`s talismanic frontman, Will Grigg, who fired in for fun in their promotion-winning season last year. He kept a cool head to slot in from inside six yards.
Wednesday`s dominance was soon rewarded with an equaliser. The Owls turned on the style and a stunning lofted ball over the top was held up superbly by Scottish International, Steven Fletcher. The number six held off his marker to angle the ball across Wigan stopper, Adam Bogdan and profited with his first goal for the club since his arrival on a free this Summer.
The second half saw the return of Wednesday`s free-flowing, attacking football, much to the delight of the 24,000 who`d packed out Hillsborough. Such dominance was quickly rewarded, as Forrestieri`s initial shot rebounded back to him. He made no such mistake with his second attempt, netting his first goal since our opening day win over Aston Villa.

Next, we welcomed Southern visitors, Bristol City. Their on-loan Chelsea forward, Tammy Abraham was on fire and his confidence was evident after he nipped in for two quick fire goals. After a sluggish first half, the Owls trailed in 2-0 behind at the break. The introduction of Ross Wallace and Fessi at half time made all the difference.

Fletcher nodded home a bullet header from close range, clawing the deficit back to just one. It was all Wednesday, but we were caught on the counter attack. Temporary centre-back, Sam Hutchinson made a last-ditch challenge to deny the Red`s striker who was in on goal. Unfortunately, it was Hutch`s goalkeeping heroics that denied them a third goal. He was dismissed and a penalty was awarded. Lee Tomlin, who is usually so prolific, stepped up against Westwood, but smashed his effort against the post. The ball fell to Gary Hooper, who was quick to break away. He was hacked down by City Skipper, Gary O`Neil, who was dismissed by the ref after picking up a second booking.

At 10 vs 10, the Owls were dominant. Forestieri laid the ball off to Bannan, who took one touch and smashed the ball from 30 yards. The thunderous drive ripped the net off, though the keeping of Former-Owl, Richard O`Donnell was questionable. Following this, the Owls missed several key chances to steal the spoils. As we went into five minutes of added time, the roar from the KOP was more of anticipation than expectation. Kieran Lee got the ball in the box with virtually the last kick of the game. He took it outside the City defender and dinked it round the sliding keeper. The KOP went crazy. The players went crazy. Carlos went crazy. Chants of “We`re on our way” rang out as the gutted travelling fans trailed out of the stadium.

Onto Birmingham.

The Owls arrived at St Andrews with a changed kit and a very much changed team with five new faces from Tuesday night`s last-gasp victory. Wednesday started superbly and looked very threatening. Forestieri and Abdi missed golden chances before returning Skipper, Glenn Loovens lunged in on Former-Owl, Jacques Maghoma in our box, giving the referee a decision to make. Of course, all Owls fans will say he made the correct one, waving play on.

The second half was of nowhere near the same intensity. However, Owls sub, Gary Hooper, who netted twice in last year`s remarkable comeback to the Blues, came on and was at it again. A ball to Fletcher seemed not to come to fruition, as the Scot slipped triggering a chorus of jeers from the home support. They weren`t laughing 30 seconds later though, when Fletcher regained his feet and back heeled a beautifully weighted pass to Hooper, who beat their defenders for pace and calmly slide the ball passed their keeper.

1-0 to the Owls with fifteen minutes to go. We`re all thinking this is going to be nine points out nine! However, a rare Westwood mistake gave the Blues a penalty. Donaldson was running away from goal, with plenty back to cover, but Westwood came out and clattered the big Striker after the ball had gone, giving him the chance to step up and grab the equaliser. He did. 1-1.

Nuhiu came on for the Owls and new-signing Lukas Jutkiewicz came on for the hosts. Three minutes added time were signalled. With the game in the balance, a ball from the right was whipped in and headed towards goal by Atdhe. His effort crashed off the upright and allowed Birmingham to break. Which they did, with potency. A Maghoma floated cross was not dealt with. Questionable defending, as Loovens dropped back, playing Jutkiewicz onside, meaning his glancing header was onside as it landed into the bottom corner.

A 2-1 loss was not the way we wanted to end such a good week, especially after going in front at St Andrews, but onwards we go. We`re still ahead on points to last season? WAWAW!