Just under 5,000 Owls traveled to Newcastle United last night – and watched their team pull off the shock of the night. Although, there was always a sense it could happen.
Positioned far up in the skies, the Wednesday fans could have been forgiven for having a breather after the grueling walk to the top tier, but they didn’t. The following from South Yorkshire was in fine voice from the start and only got louder as the game went on.
For a lot of Wednesday fans the general thinking was ‘it’s one of the great grounds in England, let’s turn up and see what happens’ but it was clear Carlos Carvalhal and his team turned up for one reason, and one reason only – frustrate Newcastle, their fans and come away with a pass to the next round.
On paper, Sheffield Wednesday were fielding a weakened side, bringing back in Liam Palmer, Rhoys Wiggins and Lucas Joao. Newcastle featured a few household names such as Krul, Wijnaldum, Sissoko, De Jong and Anita.
It has to be said that Newcastle started bright and dominated possession but their lack of confidence was there to be seen – too many sideways passes and nobody appeared to want to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Eventually they did craft a few chances – but the only outcome was a very poor finish or some great defending by Wednesday.
The stats following the game said it all – Newcastle registered 8 attempts, only 1 hit the target (a trickling effort that was easily saved by Wildsmith). Wednesday had 1 more attempt, but got 4 of those on target. Wednesday also had more corners.
It was Sheffield Wednesday’s night – they played well, controlled Newcastle and looked very dangerous on the break. This was all rewarded when substitute Sergiu Bus ran through, and the ball bobbled out to Lewis McGugan who struck the ball with confidence, and a slight deflection took it past Tim Krul who got a hand to it.
It was nothing more than the Owls deserved – and it was at this point where they got very impressive. It would be expected they’d sit back and invite pressure, but there was none of it. After a great save from a Lucas Joao header at the back post, Bus managed to strike the crossbar in one of the worst misses of the season – it would have wrapped the game up.
But the introduction of big forward Atdhe Nuhiu had the same effect. He has been criticised for his hold-up play considering his size in the past but the Newcastle team couldn’t get near him, everything stuck to him and he wasted a lot of time in the corners to ease pressure and ensure Newcastle never built up momentum in their hunt for an equaliser.
It was a big win for the Owls, not just in their cup run but the team spirit displayed at the end will do no harm to their league campaign. The win setup a home tie with giants Arsenal – another exciting tie for fans, and another chance to claim a scalp.
But on the whole, it was a very confident and purposeful performance from Wednesday. They did a job on the Premier League side, who will now be under more pressure to correct their poor form. Lewis McGugan rewarded Carlos Carvalhal’s faith and the Owls march on into the 4th round of the Capital One Cup.
