PRACTICE makes perfect for the man who was beginning to think that the first set-set-piece league goal of his career was never going to come.
Darren Potter has kept honing his free-kicks on the training ground and he came closest in games when he hit the bar twice during the last few months.
When his moment finally arrived it was worth waiting for - an expertly-taken shot that gave Wednesday just reward though, like him, they had to be patient.
It seemed that a respectable away display against a top-10 side was going to be fruitless until the 88th minute when Potter took his free-kick with deadly accuracy.
"I've come close on many occasions; it was nice to see one go in," said the midfield player who hit the woodwork with free-kicks against Derby, recently, and Charlton on his Owls debut, when he also scored his first league goal from open play.
READ MORE: Goal hero keen on Owls futureSaturday's late equaliser gave the 1,863 away fans a goal celebration to add to the carnival atmosphere of "Honolulu Wednesday" - the tag for the Hawaiian fancy-dress theme on the last trip of the season.
Even manager Brian Laws joined in. As he was walking past the away enclosure 35 minutes before the start, he went among the fans for a few minutes and emerged wearing a multi-coloured garland.
Events on the pitch could have sparked a real party if Wednesday had matched chances and possession with goals.
Francis Jeffers forced a great early save from Adriano Basso after a link between Potter and Leon Clarke had created the opening.
Clarke made good runs to get into shooting positions during the 90 minutes but the goal touch deserted him thanks partly to two impressive tackles by centre-half Liam Fontaine and two saves from Basso.
Laws felt that there were occasions when his striker hesitated a little and that otherwise he could have matched his two-goal haul of the the 4-2 win at Burnley.
"I just felt that at times we tried to walk the ball in rather than hit the target," said the Owls boss.
Maybe it was just a bit of rustiness, for this was only the second time in the last eight games that the big man had started, after his spot of hamstring bother.
Wednesday were unfortunate to be behind at the end of an open first half and bossed the second half without doing enough damage to a home team who lacked urgency.
There an also an opportunity for Marcus Tudgay with a header
An attempt by City to liven things up included a chance for Owls fans to get a look at Dele Adebola, the centre-forward who is thought to be among Laws' summer targets.
He was sent on as a sub but did not get much of a chance to make an impact, imposing though his physique is.
Laws inevitably had to handle questions about whether he wants the experienced targetman who is out of contract this summer. He also revealed that he'd even had a question on the subject from City manager Gary Johnson.
Laws said: "Rumours are rumours. There's nothing to say. It's very early stages. There's not a lot of business being done at the moment.
"I'm talking to a hell of a lot of agents who are all jostling for positions for their players.
"At the moment we are just concentrating on identifying players, then taking it a stage further."
So he did not actually deny an interest in Adebola.
Laws praised Potter's free-kick - "a bit of quality; he placed the ball into the back of the net" - but was unhappy with City's goal, stuck away by Johnson's midfielder son, Lee, after a smart break down the middle.
"It was down to us," said the Owls manager. "We didn't keep the ball; we had it in their half. We gave it away cheaply and didn't hold it as well as we should have.
"They have broken away and scored."
Potter admitted: "We were happy with the first 20 minutes; we were better than them; then we got a bit sloppy and let them back in the game.
"Franny and Leon probably should have scored early on; that would have set us up nicely.
"We need to take our chances and kill games off.
"We didn't really look like scoring in the second half. I thought it was never going to come."
But his chance came after Marcus Tudgay was tripped, around 24 yards out.
Potter whipped a right-footed free-kick towards keeper's left-hand corner, Sean McAllister ducked on the end of the wall and the ball flew over his head to find its mark.
Defender Izzy Iriekpen missed with a free header that could have made it 2-0 in the 28th minute, and as the second half neared its end manager Johnson sensed that another anti-climax was coming.
"When the referee blew for that free kick it was as if he knew, I knew, the crowd knew and the media knew that the game was going to be drawn." he said.
Laws concluded: "It was probably going to be our last opportunity to get a goal.
"Thankfully we got it and we didn't go away disappointed."
MANAGER'S VIEW:
We thoroughly deserved at least a draw. We played some really good football and created something like 18 strikes at goal, of which around nine were on target,
which away from home is very good.
The difference between a win and a draw is us not being clinical enough in front pf
goal. We had enough opportunities.
Credit to the players, they have worked hard. We have put in a decent performance.
The supporters were magnificent. They deserved to see us get a good result out of it.
These games are sometimes like testimonials but there were powerful challenges and there was some hard work being put in.
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