The moment that changed the game and a star man rises – How Sheffield Wednesday battled their way past Charlton Athletic

For great swathes of the match, it looked as though they were going to huff and puff their way to disappointment as Charlton came to play.

But the Owls continued their unbeaten start to the season and registered their third clean sheet on the spin.

Under the Josh

There was a moment or two in the summer where in the minds of many Wednesdayites, it looked like Argentinian interest in Josh Windass might be worth taking a look at.

His injuries problems last season are well known and the Owls have been keen to wrap him in cotton wool as best they can, as evidenced in them leaving him out of the midweek Carabao Cup squad altogether.

And you can see why. He was Wednesday’s most dangerous player and spun Charlton defenders all over in moments.

His quality in key moments is something not many players in this division have and he collected his second assist of the season, curling a ball in for Tyreeq Bakinson to nod home.

Addick-tion

Pre-match predictions across South Yorkshire suggested a relatively breezy win for Wednesday.

But Charlton came to play, they looked confident on the ball and set about the home side about as well as any opposition side have done at S6 in a long time.

Under Ben Gardner they already look a better side than they did last season and on Saturday afternoon’s evidence could well sit themselves in the top six conversation.

In Ryan Inniss they have a centre-half who wouldn’t look out of place on a rugby pitch and in Corey Blackett-Taylor a livewire in the final third.

Wednesday weren’t at their best for large portions of the game, but Charlton were very tidy opposition. It may well look like a very, very good result come May.

Triple trouble

The EFL bringing in a five-sub rule, over the course of a season, will surely help clubs with bigger resources, including Sheffield Wednesday.

Their ability to change things up with a triple sub of Championship-quality players on 58 minutes is a luxury not many clubs in League One have and it’s one they very probably wouldn’t have taken had three still been the limit.

Lee Gregory, George Byers and Tyreeq Bakinson were set on with the remit to change the game, but it also gave the crowd a monumental boost as things were starting to feel a bit stale.

The move changed the game and spun the visitors onto the back foot, Byers in particular imposing himself onto proceedings and Gregory offering an extra threat.

Moore’s switch to bring Barry Bannan off for Sylla Sow was ballsy, too.

Respect on the name

Liam Jordan Palmer. For whatever reason, it’s rare that Wednesdayites sing his name.

But they did after a goal-saving block and an important last-ditch tackle came within a few minutes of one another. He’s one of their own, they said.

The Scotland international has perhaps been the most consistent of the Wednesday players in these embryonic stages of a long season.

Right-wing, left-hand defence? His is versatility gold dust to Darren Moore and his staff.

Nay-sayers gunna nay-say. Palmer has been excellent this season and saved Wednesday on more than one occasion in a difficult first half.