Wins and a terrible trip to Spotland – A look at Sheffield Wednesday v Rochdale
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In short, yes. Wednesday have won five of their seven meetings with the Dale, and have been victorious in both of their League Cup clashes – 1-0 in the Worthington Cup (2002) and 3-0 in the Carling Cup (2009) – over the years.
An opening day rocket from David Prutton in 2011/12 is arguably the most memorable goal from all of the previous encounters, but many Wednesdayites will also remember a miserable trip to Spotland earlier in 2011 when Gary Megson’s first game as manager was ruined by Matt Done (who is currently back for his third spell with Rochdale) and Gary Jones in a 2-1 defeat.
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Hide AdIt’s been almost seven years since the two sides last faced off in a 2-1 Wednesday victory in the FA Cup in 2014 – Joe Mattock and Oguchi Onyewu got the goals – and Liam Palmer is the only remaining Owls player from the squad that lined up that day.
One downside to Wednesday’s Dale dominance, however, is that four of their five wins have come at Hillsborough, losing one and drawing one of their three visits to Spotland (now known as the Crown Oil Arena).
Tonight’s tie will also see a familiar face in the opposition dugout as former Owl, Brian Barry-Murphy, takes on his old club for the first time since venturing into management, and it’ll be a bit of a reunion for Garry Monk, too, as he goes up against an old SWFC teammate – the two started alongside each other several times in the 2002/03 season.
Victory tonight will set up a third round encounter with either Ipswich Town or Fulham – who play tomorrow night – as the Owls look to put together a three-game unbeaten run in all competitions for the first time this year and build on their impressive performance against Cardiff City over the weekend.
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Hide AdTonight’s clash will be available for £10 on iFollow for those wanting to watch the game online.
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