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Youth takes centre stage as Owls fail to fill the bench: MATCH REPORT AND SLIDESHOW
CARDIFF CITY 2 v SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0: CARDIFF'S new stadium is rising next door to Ninian Park but for Wednesday it was something of a familiar old story on Saturday.
Another away defeat against a top-six side went hand in hand with an another outbreak of the injury problems that have dogged the Owls for years.
Even with something like a full-strength side it would have been tough enough for them to avoid coming back point-less just as they did from Wolves, Birmingham and Reading.
Even the most ardent fan looking at the team when it was announced would have feared the outcome.
But the remaining players showed enough spirit, commitment and endeavour to prove that the Owls cannot be easily written off.
The club were without 11 men and could name no more than four subs, even with Jimmy Smith getting off his sick bed to drive from his London home, and with young centre half Sam Liversidge returning from a loan spell at Buxton.
But the Owls were well in the game until the second half, and were tilted towards that predictable defeat only by a bit of sheer misfortune, when Roger Johnson's saveable shot hit Richard Wood and took a huge deflection past a wrong-footed Lee Grant.
As Brian Laws observed afterwards, goals change games and Johnson's lucky one changed this one.
All of Wednesday's first-half graft and stubbornness was ultimately rendered irrelevant.
Cardiff, inspired by their breakthrough, went on to profit from a
linesman's disputed decision by breaking forward from a throw-in to win a penalty, and there was no way back for Wednesday from a two-goal deficit.
Laws kept his pre-match vow that he he would not make injuries an excuse if the result was bad - though he made that promise before he knew that he was going to lose his front two, Francis Jeffers and Leon Clarke.
The Owls boss admitted: "Cardiff got better in the second half and finished the better side."
But allowances must be made: to lose 11 players was a crippling blow for an already small squad. In my 28 years of covering Wednesday, I cannot remember another occasion when they were unable to field the permitted number of subs.
Allowances must also be made when judging youngsters thrown in at the deep end.
By ordinary Championship standards Nathan Modest had a testing time but he looked exactly what he was was: a 17-year-old playing at this level for the first time and trying to find his feet; it could also be said that he was playing out of position, on the right side of midfield, where no doubt the Owls were looking to utilise his pace, though he is recognised as a striker.
The youngster worked hard and was not afraid to get stuck in - he got got a talking-to from the ref for one challenge.
Luke Boden, 20, is another who showed that he is adaptable - a quality prized by the club this season - by starting up front and having a stint in midfield; he aided the cause with 90 minutes of effort.
Wednesday had the two making their first League starts for the club -
though Boden has played in the League Cup for Wednesday, and while out on loan had spells in League Two with Chesterfield and in the Conference with Rushden and Diamonds.
One of the difficulties that the weakened Owls had as a team on Saturday was in finding the attacking qualities to cause a useful Cardiff side problems, until the closing stages, when the home side appeared to take their foot off the gas.
Marcus Tudgay, who was back in his favoured position up front, got through some useful work in various areas of the park and tried to hold things together with his link play. Several times he could be seen directing Modest and giving him encouragement.
The Owls never really created a clear-cut chance. So the question at half time was: will they be able to come back if Cardiff get a goal?
Certainly the home side were restricted to just one definite opening in the opening 45 minutes: centre back Jay Bothroyd volleyed over the bar.
Cardiff boss Dave Jones admitted: "Maybe some of my lads looked at their team sheet and thought it was just going to happen for us. It didn't.
"We had to grind it out against a team who set up to catch us on the break; we defended it well. We needed something like that first goal: They defended well. They closed us down.
"Once we got our noses in front, we went for the kill. We had that 10-15 minute spell where we could have scored more."
While Laws criticised the linesman's decision that brought the penalty - conceded when Sean McAllister brought down Joe Ledley - Jones reckoned that a replay showed that the same official was wrong to disallow a Cardiff goal for offside against Michael Chopra.
The former Barnsley striker had slotted the loose ball home after Lee Grant made a wonderful save, touching a ferocious shot from Bothroyd on to the post.
Grant stood between Wednesday and a heavier defeat in Cardiff's brief purple patch in the the second half. In the 90 minutes, he made three saves from Bothroyd and others from Wayne Routledge and Ledley.
The Owls' unbeaten run was ended after five games but, in the circumstances, there was nothing to be ashamed of.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
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