Sheffield Wednesday’s last-gap losses: Garry Monk’s problem to solve

It happened for the first time in October, away at Cardiff City, and by the time Tariqe Fosu completed Brentford’s 5-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday it had proven to be a big problem.
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The Owls concede late goals. It’s no secret. Fosu’s in the 82nd minute of the defeat at Griffin Park was the 13th time that Wednesday have conceded in the final 10 minutes of games in the Championship this season – an unenviable record that only Luton Town (14) can top.

While the fifth goal in the defeat against the Bees - Wednesday’s last bit of competitive league action before the Coronavirus shutdown - was just the icing on the cake for the hosts, the same can’t be said for other games.

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In total, Garry Monk’s side have drawn or lost nine of the 22 games in which they’ve led over the course of the 2019/20 season so far, dropping a total of 22 points from winning positions.

Equally as worrying for a team that was hoping to push for promotion is the fact that Wednesday have been unable to bounce back when falling behind, picking up just seven points from losing positions and only completing one turnaround to pick up three points (against Brentford in December’s 2-1 win thanks to a Steven Fletcher brace) having been chasing a game.

Manager, Monk, has spoken of the disappointment at seeing his team lose focus in the dying moments of games to throw away a point or three, but you only have to look a few games back to see the latest example of it as SWFC’s let Scott Hogan score a late equaliser for Birmingham City in February.

Though football remains at a complete standstill given the Coronavirus outbreak that is causing havoc across the world, Monk will be eager to try and find a way to make sure that whenever football does return, he’s able to try and remedy his side’s ‘at the death’ errors so they can try and get back on track.

The Owls won just one of their last 10 Championship games prior to the beginning of lockdown, and will be desperate to change things around when given the chance.