Sheffield Wednesday are mixing it up and there's nothing wrong with that

Sheffield Wednesday climbed aboard one of this column’s favourite hobby horses during last weekend’s great win over West Brom - and a fine former player saddled up alongside.

As the Owls raced into a two-goal lead, raced was indeed the word. In both cases, ball to back of the net in the blink of an eye. Mark Smith didn’t bat an eyelid. The classy centre back of the Howard Wilkinson era simply applauded what the game has come to call “route one” goals. Smith’s only surprise - and the source of his delight - was that there’s still a place for this sort of goal in the modern game.

Further, as he told listeners during BBC Radio Sheffield’s commentary alongside Rob Staton: “I can’t understand why that isn’t called good football.” Mark, neither can I. When it works there is as much beauty and excitement in it as a 30-pass meander “through the thirds.“ Maybe more actually.

But more to the point, equally effective. Which is the whole point of the game, to get the ball from one end to the other into the opposition’s net. It doesn’t matter how it gets there.

There is so much snobbery in the game, nothing new when you look back to Wilko’s sometimes maligned era. It annoyed me then and it annoys me now.

Even as a fan of the edge-of-the-seat drama created by playing out from the back, why is nearly everyone doing it? Where is the originality in that, besides the folly? And why does everybody get sucked into jargon like the aforementioned “playing through the thirds”? Further, if you can score a goal with one pass or two, isn’t it better? One man’s hoof is another’s long pass. When that ball is accurate it’s thing of skill and sculpture.

At a different, much later stage of last Saturday’s game, Wednesday crafted a majestic passing move for a winning goal of a type more widely approved.

So, two contrasting but effective ways to score goal in the same match and it augurs well that Wednesday are mixing up their approach. To his credit, manager Danny Rohl was quick to accept that his preferred style wasn’t working and to change it

In the long run, that rocky start to the season will be beneficial if, as seems to be the case, it brings more variety to Wednesday’s game.

Smith also made the telling point that modern defenders are more likely to be caught out by the long ball because they face it so rarely. So there could be as much significance in the manner of the result as the delivering of three much needed points last weekend.

Wednesday also continued an upward trend to hit a standard they must maintain.