A new Wednesday Way and a Victorian schoolmaster: Sheffield Wednesday's 2-1 win over Bristol City from the press box
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As Nahki Wells nodded Bristol City back within striking distance of Sheffield Wednesday’s lead at Ashton Gate, it would have been very ‘Wednesday’ to concede late on. Because that, after all, is what Wednesday do. It’s the Wednesday Way.
It happens to them all the time, particularly on the road. At Blackburn and West Brom and Cardiff and Derby and Stoke. Urgh, Stoke. There was Birmingham, too. Time and again the Owls piece together a pleasing performance full of heart and endeavour before an error whips points from their tally in the final throes.
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Hide AdSheffield Wednesday, no matter what the 90 minutes had held, were a fragile animal and every team in the league knew it. Take them deep and you’re in with a chance.
So when Wells’ goal arrived from nowhere, barging into the party on 68 minutes and threatening to ruin it for everyone, eyes were rolled among the cardboard cut-outs. Ah, they whispered, here we go.
But not today. Not with this new-and-improved, rested and fresh Sheffield Wednesday side. Bristol City had half-moments but the Owls stood firm, that back three keeping runs in behind at bay, those in front limiting the Robins efforts to advance.
It’s all at an early stage of course and Garry Monk told us as much after his side’s richly deserved 2-1 win, their first away three points for 169 long days. But there does appear to be a little bit of something different about the way this side is not only playing, but the way it is holding itself.
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Hide AdWatching the players warm-up in the morning sunshine, there was a zip to their efforts and smiles on faces. Pre-match preparation before the three-month coronavirus suspension had been laboured and joyless, but no more.
They’ve changed things up on that front, too. The bulk of their preparations saw the starting line-up skip their way through quick-passing drills, a new focus in Monk’s desire to start matches on the front foot. The days of endless heading drills appear to be over.
And when it came to those final 20 minutes that positive outlook continued. There seemed to be a belief that in fact they were going to hold firm.
Speaking to The Star after the match, Monk spoke of his optimism that the squad’s attitude had turned a corner during that long lay-off. It couldn’t have come at a better time, let’s face it, for everyone involved at the club, and from ailing body parts to time to take stock, it appears to have done the trick in the short-term at least.
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Hide AdThey were helped no end by an odd-looking Bristol City outfit that is now two defeats in two since the big restart. In his first start since September former Owls loanee Benik Afobe was inexplicably exiled to the left wing, Andi Weimann was a percentage of a man in between the lines and his goal aside, it’s perfectly possible that Wells may still be in Dominic Iorfa’s pocket.
The imperious Owls defender was the central figure in a professionally rounded-off display between the hugely impressive Liam Palmer and the departing Morgan Fox, on for the injured Julian Borner at half-time.
And those performances ran throughout the side. Barry Bannan, he of rested groin and renewed vigour, was back to something not a million miles from his brilliant, bubbling best in the heart of the operation. Rewind to February and March and he was more active in handing out rollickings to his teammates than opening up defences.
Around him Massimo Luongo and Kieran Lee carried their Forest form down from Hillsborough with performances that were coolly efficient and up top Connor Wickham stopped everyone thinking about Steven Fletcher for a bit.
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Hide AdKadeem Harris put on his best display of the year, while Jacob Murphy, he whose painful inconsistency stands between him and a proper shot at the Premier League, produced yet another consistent effort. The Newcastle loanee, perhaps the ultimate confidence player, wore a pumped-up chest throughout.
And then there’s Joe Wildsmith, who bellowed orders at those in front of him with all the authority of a Victorian schoolmaster, buoyed by one of the saves of the season in the fifth minute. In replacing the confidence-shot Cameron Dawson, jeered by a section of his own support on that dark afternoon at Brentford, he has provided perhaps the starkest example of this confident new dawn.
Two matches does not a summer make, that’s for sure, and Wednesday now enter a whirlwind three weeks with a threadbare squad and fiercer opposition to battle, starting with West Brom on Saturday. Monk said himself that there will be troughs to counterbalance these peaks and that it is important this does not prove to be yet another false dawn.
But there was something about that last 20 minutes that really suggested they might have turned a corner. The football was good, the system worked once again and the three points were gained. But wrapped up in all that is a Sheffield Wednesday that just look and feel a little bit different.
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Hide AdThere are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. We even got through 900-odd words without mentioning the threat of a potential points deduction, which may or may not arrive this week. Nearly. So close.