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West Bromwich 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0 - MATCH REPORT
AN exceptional goal broke the Owls' resistance last night and ended a 35-year record.
They had not lost in eight games at The Hawthorns going back to 1975, when they suffered a 4-0 drubbing, the same score by which they lost at Hillsborough to West Brom this season.
But this time there was no cause for embarrassment: the Owls had the better of the first half and should have gone ahead through Jermaine Johnson.
Then Albion upped their game after half time; four saves from Lee Grant kept them at bay; Leon Clarke had an opportunity, and it was only a terrific strike by sub midfield man Robert Koren that ultimately separated the sides - and proved a pre-match point made by Alan Irvine.
The Wednesday manager said that West Brom had players who could produced something out of the ordinary to turn tight games their way.
Slovenia captain Koren provided a shining example: there seemed little danger when he cut inside from the right flank. But he let fly with his left foot from 25 yards and the ball flew in.
Irvine hadn't expected to make changes after the win against Leicester but he lost Marcus Tudgay to illness and brought in Luke Varney.
Johnson led the way when he ran at the Albion defence in the first few minutes and beat several opponents, briefly raising hopes of a wonder goal until he was outnumbered inside the box.
A lovely interchange between Tommy Spurr and James O'Connor was an equal threat to the home side, ending with a cross aimed for Varney at the far post and a decisive punch by ex-Owls loan star Scott Carson.
The home crowd were quietened, and it took an acrobatic 14-yard volley from Chris Brunt to raise their spirits. Wednesday closed down midfield and Darren Purse and Mark Beevers dealt with the high balls.
The Owls should have gone ahead in the 37th minute. As they counter-attacked swiftly after an Albion corner, Varney played the ball through the inside-left position to Johnson; the winger bustled past full back Marek Cech in the left-hand corner of the box. He took aim and chipped Carson but knocked his effort on to the roof of the net.
Irvine reflected: "JJ made the wrong decision. He probably should have shifted it inside and then made his decision. He chose to chip. It was going to have to be something absolutely precise to score from there."
In the first minute of the second half, Varney played a pass up to O'Connor in the box, he laid it off, but Clarke mis-hit a half-chance off target.
Roberto Di Matteo took off left winger Jerome Thomas at half time, switched Brunt to the left and sent sub Koren to the right side.
That was followed by another change, with Ishmael Miller replacing Luke Moore as the central front man in a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 system.
At last West Brom started to exert pressure - and Wednesday had a triple escape in the 62nd minute following a corner.
Grant made a brilliant stop from a close-range header by centre half Jonas Olsson; a follow-up shot was blocked by Mark Beevers, and a resulting chance was scooped over the bar by Miller.
The sub striker, who added physical presence to his team, was then denied by a Grant save at the foot of his post after a superb far-post cross from Brunt, and the keeper touched a header from midfielder James Morrison over the top following another corner.
That made it three crucial saves from Grant in the space of three minutes.
Then it was Carson's turn to shine; Clarke beat right back Steven Reid on the left side of the area and went for goal; the keeper got a touch to deflect the shot for a corner, in the 69th minute. Irvine later reflected: "Leon didn't really catch it properly."
Johnson, who is still in the early stages of his comeback, felt cramp and made way for Tom Soares.
West Brom kept forcing Wednesday back and a fourth save from Grant came in the 74th minute.
He watched a 30-yarder from Graham Dorrans all the way and turned it over the bar but it was a powerful, dipping effort from the midfield man.
The Owls could now only hope to attack on the break and they did so when Clarke volleyed high over the top from 22 yards.
It was another chance for Albion when Miller drifted in behind Mark Beevers to get on the end of a long ball but he glanced his header wide.
Koren broke the deadlock, cutting inside Tommy Spurr before unleashing his bolt from the blue.
Wednesday now faced the problem of how to get forward and score without leaving gaps at the back that a multi-talented side could exploit.
Irvine sent on Francis Jeffers to partner Clarke, took off O'Connor, pushed Varney out wide and switched Miller into central midfield.
But the Owls could not fashion another opportunity, and West Brom held their lead comfortably to go back up to second in the table. At least this was a show full of tenacity and endeavour from Wednesday. They were barracked by their own fans after the debacle at Reading but this time their efforts were met with applause at the end.
Boss's View
I thought we were the better team in the first half. We spoke at half time about how West Brom were likely at some point to make changes to make them different, even better; we knew we were going to be under pressure at some point.
I felt as if we were coping with that pressure. I don't think Lee Grant had too much to do.
He made one very good reaction save, then one from Dorrans that I would expect him to make.
Then there was a moment of brilliance from a top quality player.
In the first half we had a terrific shape about us. In he second half we were very resilient and determined and players did their jobs.
West Brom have good players who they can put on to do a job for them.
Koren got Man of the Match. That's right.
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Weather for Sheffield
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Fog
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
