Jabs, no punches and a knockout blow: Sheffield Wednesday taste defeat away at Morecambe

Sheffield Wednesday jabbed away but landed no punches as they fell to their first defeat back in League One thanks to a 1-0 reversal at the hands of plucky Morecambe.
Sheffield Wednesday man Barry Bannan.Sheffield Wednesday man Barry Bannan.
Sheffield Wednesday man Barry Bannan.

The Owls shuffled their pack in Darren Moore’s continued quest to put this side together and though they looked good between the boxes for large swathes of the match, the killer blow was lacking, a reality that came home to roost when the Shrimpers hit back on the hour when Dennis Adeniran bundled it into his own goal.

There were moments in the first half that saw Wednesday stick their chests out. Barry Bannan’s first touch saw him bring the ball down and unleash a 50-yard switch into the box in one classy movement, while Jaden Brown made up for a heavy touch by beating three men at close quarters.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A glance at the teamsheet pre-match had most guessing the former Huddersfield man would have started at left-back but that honour went to Marvin Johnson. Liam Palmer shuffled inside alongside Dominic Iorfa and acquitted himself well against the in-form Cole Stockton.

The Owls rather jabbed away in the first half with no sign of a tasty punch, though Callum Paterson hit the bar in the 25th minute with what looked suspiciously a cross.

The home end piped up with semi-regular chants of ‘your not famous anymore’, a reminder if needed that Moore’s side have a target on their head this year.

With the scores unchanged at half-time, the question was how Wednesday would turn two-third of possession into something more points-worthy. A mile or so from the famous Eric Morecambe statue, they were playing a lot of the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

George Byers curled his foot around one at the start of the second half that had Jokull Andresson beaten but smashed the post and on the turn Lee Gregory did well to hammer one over the bar seconds later.

More chances, more noise from the away end as they attempted to suck the ball into a net past a belligerent Morecambe defence. Gregory forced the Icelandic keeper into a smart save on the stroke of the hour mark.

And then the horror moment. A failure to clear from a Morecambe corner and a diversion into the Wednesday goal; the Owls’ defence breached for the first time this season.

Theo Corbeanu wandered on for his Owls debut as Moore emptied the bench but the game had changed and with the home support in the sort of mood that comes with a Morecambe win over Sheffield Wednesday, the hosts grew in stature as the Owls lost their way.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This is a work in progress perhaps ahead of schedule and over the course of a 46-game season there will be more days like that, you feel. Though it doesn’t make Wednesday’s first taste of defeat back in League One any more palatable.

Morecambe: Andresson; Cooney, Lavelle, O’Connor, Leigh (Gibson, 80’); McLoughlin (Phillips, 57’), Diagouraga, McAlmont; Duffus (Delaney, 61’), Stockton, Gnahoua

Subs unused: Letheren, McDonald, Wildig, Wootton

Sheffield Wednesday: Peacock-Farrell; Hunt, Palmer, Iorfa, Johnson; Byers, Adeniran (Wing, 74’), Bannan; Paterson (Kamberi, 66’), Gregory, Brown (Corbeanu, 66’)

Subs unused: Wildsmith, Brennan, Dele-Bashiru, Sow