Sheffield Wednesday: A red card, an internal battle and strong support as Owls fall to Peterborough United

Two second half goals from the hosts put the Owls to the sword in their second away game of the campaign, but there was a lot more to it than a simple defeat as a first half marred with drama set Darren Moore's side on the road to their first defeat of the campaign.

It ended 2-0, and the Owls boss has plenty to address ahead of the weekend’s trip to Bolton Wanderers.

The first bit of drama…

Wednesday were looking pretty good, they were trying to force their way behind enemy lines and seemed to be having increasingly more joy, but then a red card was brandished and everything changed.

Before James clattered Joe Ward on the left side it felt like the Owls were in control. They were putting lots of crosses into the Posh box, and it looked like they were edging closer to that first big chance.

But then James was sent off, and forced Moore to rejig things – it was at that point that the Owls were left with the tide well and truly turned.

Then the second…

It didn’t help, meanwhile, that the aforementioned rejig resulted in some argy bargy on the Wednesday bench between George Byers and Jamie Smith…

The former didn’t take kindly to being the man sacrificed by the Wednesday manager as Dominic Iorfa entered into the fray, and slapped away Smith’s hand as he left the field of play.

Smith, in return, followed him to the bench to have a word, and the two shared a heated moment before Byers eventually sat down. Wednesday’s assistant was booked, and it wasn’t a good look for anybody.

Oh to have been a fly on the ball in the dressing room at half time.

At the risk of sounding repetitive…

Wednesday had got three clean sheets in a row before this game, but the same old problems reared their head in Peterborough… While their opponents seemed to deal with every single cross against them, the Owls were undone – twice – by almost carbon copies of the goals that let them down against Portsmouth on the opening day.

Both in from Wednesday’s left, and both scored – by Jonson Clarke-Harris and Jack Taylor – from headers. It’s still a problem that Moore has to try and fix if the Owls are going to challenge.

Those Wednesdayites in the away end

It would be remiss not to make mention of them… With the chaos on the railways there was still barely any empty seats, with many having had to find alternative ways of making their way to London Road for Tuesday night’s tie.

When the first goal went in they launched into song, and even after the second – which effectively destined them for defeat with 10 men – so many of them remained in their seats rather than opting to take the early road home.

They were left disappointed, but once again they showed their quality as a fanbase.

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