A self-inflicted decline: Sheffield Wednesday's failing survival bid slips further from view

Some sank to their knees. Some fell flat on their backs. After a moment of two of consolation from the Bristol City players around him, a distraught Barry Bannan trudged off the pitch and rubbed his eyes as he entered the tunnel.
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The feeling inside Hillsborough was one of mourning. A win would’ve set the Owls to within five points of Derby County, with Derby County still to play on the last day. It was still a tall order, but one ever-so-slightly in reach if coming off the back of a momentum-boosting win. It could have set Wednesday up for something truly special.

But ‘could have’, ‘would have’, ‘should have’ has been the theme.

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This is a Sheffield Wednesday side that could have made it two or three nil in the first half of this and so many first halves this season.

Sheffield Wednesday pair Barry Bannan and Julian Borner look distraught after their 1-1 draw with Bristol City.Sheffield Wednesday pair Barry Bannan and Julian Borner look distraught after their 1-1 draw with Bristol City.
Sheffield Wednesday pair Barry Bannan and Julian Borner look distraught after their 1-1 draw with Bristol City.

It’s a side that would have won the game handsomely, you feel, had they scored the penalty or any of the other opportunities that came their way in that time.

It’s a side that should have made their 70-minute man advantage count better, using the ball to better effect to tire the opposition.

Instead it was allowed to become a scrappy match between two relatively poor Championship football teams.

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The talk in the press box was unanimous; that one goal would not be enough and that when a chance inevitably fell for Bristol City, they would take it. The sense was that once again Wednesday had seized up, the players themselves had felt the premonition.

And then goal. 1-1. That five-point disparity stretched to seven and all but out of sight.

Let’s have it right, from the minute they were slapped with a points deduction that was later proven to be over-stringent, Wednesday have had it tough this season. Several club figures have been touched by the coronavirus, with manager Darren Moore recovering in hospital from further complications.

But so much of their plight feels self-inflicted, from the managerial carousel to the points deduction that was eventually decreed, to featherweight performances, an inability to score enough goals and the dizzying downward spiral they’ve been on since Boxing Day 2019.

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Barry Bannan may well rub his eyes. The decline of this football club is scarcely believable.

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