Sheffield Wednesday enjoyed a surprise 2-1 win over Bristol City on Sunday and Joe Wildsmith was one of many players praised by supporters for his performance. The 24-year-old produced a number of outstanding saves to ensure Wednesday picked up all three points and could now remain Garry Monk’s first-choice in goal.
Wildsmith produced a fantastic close-range save to stop Nathan Baker heading home from a corner and he stopped another effort from Baker before Nahki Well scored from the rebound. Supporters lauded the academy graduate on social media and now believe he deserves to play ahead of Cameron Dawson for the foreseeable future.
Joe wildsmith 👏👏👏 I said it before I think out of the 2 younger goal keepers he is by far the best.
2 quality saves lad well done today.#swfc— David Swfc Ranger (@dave_swfc1) June 28, 2020
#swfc Gotta say that was a very solid and impressive performance. Wickham with a Messi-esqe pass to Murphy's feet. I was worried when we introduced Odubajo, Pelupessey and Nuhiu but they did ok. Wildsmith with another assured performance good couple of saves as well
— Oli North (@Owl79Oli) June 28, 2020
I got shouted down at Preston away last season just for saying I always thought Wildsmith was the better of the 2. His entire game is levels above Dawson. #swfc
— Lewis Southam (@lewsouthy) June 28, 2020
Outstanding
— john richardson (@jeevesy61) June 28, 2020
He has far more potential than Dawson, said that from day 1, commands his box collects crosses and great shot stopper. If he has worked on his game concentration then he will be No1 for a long time @Owlstalk
— Richard Stokes (@RSSWFC) June 28, 2020
Joe Wildsmith appreciation tweet 👏🏽 #swfc
— CLAIRE X (@clurrrrxhx) June 28, 2020
The 3-5-2 formation works for me, solid in the middle so they had to hit long balls which iorfa eats up all the time. Wildsmith brilliant in goal, unlucky not to get clean sheet, there was a push by their forward as cross come in. Great display today #swfc
— Chezzy Owl 🏴 (@chezzy_owl) June 28, 2020
https://twitter.com/Liamowls19/status/1277353372161576963?s=20
Joe Wildsmith was superb between the sticks. His save to deny Nathan Baker was nothing short of outstanding and he was desperately unlucky with Bristol City's goal after the initial save. Good to see him getting a chance now after two years without a league outing.
2/4.#SWFC
— George Smith (@_GeorgeSmith99) June 29, 2020
Solid team performance today I thought, 3 in the middle gives Bannan freedom to roam and dictate play.
Well organised at the back and Wildsmith looked good too.
Monk may have finally found a system that suits us? #swfc— Rich Thorne (@thorney811) June 28, 2020
Huge #swfc win, pretty much with players that will be here until the end of the season (apart from Fox), Wickham looking like an ideal short term replacement for Fletch. @bazzabannan25 ran the show, @DominicIorfa solid as a rock. Like 3-5-2. Wildsmith with a strong performance.
— Vital Wednesday (@VitalWednesday) June 28, 2020
Against City, Wildsmith played for 90 minutes, had 43 touches, won three aerial duels and completed 29.7% of his 37 passes. Since rising through the youth ranks to the Wednesday first-team in 2014/15, the 24-year-old has gone on to make 51 appearances in all competitions, conceding 69 goals and keeping 15 clean sheets.
This season, Wildsmith has made only three appearances after spending the majority of the campaign behind Keiren Westwood and Cameron Dawson in the pecking order, but his patience and hard work has paid off.