Wednesday 1-4 Peterborough

Another home game, another defeat for Wednesday as promotion-chasing Peterborough United eased to an emphatic 4-1 victory at Hillsborough in npower League One.

A brace of goals from George Boyd and strikes from Craig Mackail-Smith and Lee Tomlin saw Posh complete a league ‘double’ over the Owls, who had just a Paul Heffernan consolation strike to show for their efforts.

The loss continued Wednesday’s unwanted home record, which has seen them fail to win in the league at home for over three months – since the thrashing of Bristol Rovers back in early December.

Wednesday boss Gary Megson made a big six changes to the side that lost 1-0 at Hillsborough against Notts County at the weekend.

Gary Madine was deemed fit enough to return in attack, while Tommy Spurr, Richard Hinds and Mark Reynolds returned to the Owls’ defence and Jermaine Johnson and Giles Coke came into the midfield. Isaiah Osbourne was also deemed fit enough to start despite picking up a knock against the Magpies.

It meant the Owls reverted to their 4-5-1 formation favoured under Megson, with Johnson supporting Madine in attack, as opposed to the 4-4-2 formation which failed to reap the rewards at the weekend.

The game started in sluggish fashion, with neither side threatening in front of goal in the opening stages.

But the Owls were dealt a blow just ten minutes in when Mark Beevers was forced off following a clash of heads, Daniel Jones coming on and moving to left-back, with Reynolds partnering Richard Hinds in the centre of the Owls defence.

Both sides were cancelling each other out but Owls skipper Tommy Miller created the first spark when he burst through the Posh defence but Grant McCann put the ball out for a corner.

Miller’s creativity lifted the hosts and McCann’s loose ball was seized upon by Jermaine Johnson minutes later and Miller played a neat one-two with Madine but the Owls striker couldn’t get a shot away.

For Darren Ferguson’s men, McCann was the creative spark and his superb long-ball got Craig Mackail-Smith away but the striker saw his effort deflected to safety.

Richard Hinds almost got lucky when an intended cross headed towards goal and Posh stopper Joe Lewis had to tip it over the bar.

Wednesday had looked comfortable early on but, in similar circumstances to Notts County on Saturday, the visitors took the lead somewhat out of the blue.

Posh looped a ball over the top and Mackail-Smith got on the end of it before lashing a half volley beyond Owls stopper Nicky Weaver and into the back of the net to give the visitors the lead after 24 minutes.

Wednesday’s heads dropped but they had a chance to get back into it when Johnson broke and put Teale in and the winger crossed in with the aim of finding Madine, but the Posh defenders cleared the danger for a corner.

Peterborough hit back immediately from the corner on the break, with some superb counter-attacking play giving Lee Tomlin the chance to lob Weaver with a cool finish and double the visitors’ lead before half-time.

Wednesday’s confidence was battered and Posh added a third before the interval as the Owls’ defence simply collapsed.

This time it was George Boyd taking advantage of more calamity defending from the hosts, putting Peterborough into a 3-0 lead before half-time.

It ended a miserable half for Wednesday and Megson no doubt had some strong words for his men at the interval.

Half-Time: Wednesday 0-3 Posh

Megson made just the one change at the interval with striker Paul Heffernan joining the attack alongside Madine, taking the place of Johnson.

And Wednesday made their intentions clear when Coke struck an effort on goal high over the bar minutes after the restart.

The Owls should have got a goal back through Miller following a good cross to the far post which Teale headed back for the Owls skipper to volley towards goal but the Posh defender got the block in to concede a corner.

The deficit was reduced on 51 minutes when Madine slipped a neat ball across the six-yard box and Heffernan smashed the ball into the back of the net to give the hosts a glimmer of hope of something from the game.

It raised the tempo from the hosts and Wednesday saw claims for a penalty waved away just a minute later.

Things could have got better for the Owls when Heffernan found the back of the net for a second time, only for the officials to chalk it off due to Coke, who provided Heffernan with the ball, to be deemed offside.

Posh had a goal of their own chalked off just five minutes later when Ryan Bennett tucked the ball away but was adjudged to be offside.

The visitors seemingly looked happy to sit back on their lead but Wednesday continued to push to try and find a way firmly back into the contest.

With just over 20 minutes to go Daniel Jones got free and lashed a dangerous ball across the face of goal but no Wednesday attacker could get on the end of it.

Peterborough still posed a threat on the counter-attack thought but Wednesday’s defence looked more stubborn in the second half.

Wednesday made their second change and brought on Darren Potter to replace Hinds, going with a three-man defence in the latter stages.

But any hope of Wednesday getting back into the game were killed off with ten minutes to go when Posh added their fourth.

It came in tame fashion, and it was one Weaver will be keen to forget in a hurry as he failed to deal with a shot from Boyd and palmed the ball into the back of the net to all-but seal the visitors’ win.

Full-Time: Wednesday 1-4 Posh