The Wednesday team were out early for the second half and they made 3 half time substitutions, JJ on for Julien Bennett, Reda Johnson on for Rob Jones and O’Connor on for Prutton. They must have had an absolute rocket at half time from Megson, but in truth it was hard to pick out any individuals at fault for the first half display. As the bloke behind me put it “they look as though they are thinking ‘tin-pot Stevenage, we should be beating these with our eyes closed. We’re Sheffield Wednesday!’” Certainly the first half knocked that out of them but they were unable to replace that complacency with any drive or believe until Megson got them in at half time and it was already too late.
The second half was much more competitive and made my 2-2 prediction in the pub before the game look a little less ridiculous. The balance of play was fairly even and the first save wasn’t forced for 10 minutes when O’Donnell saved easily from Craig Reid.
John Mousinho left the field to a loud ovation and was replaced Josh Walker who looked his usual solid self, excellent defensive work and excellent distribution. Shortly after the substitution JJ got his box of tricks out and went on a mazy dribble down the right fizzing a shot just over. Josh Walker responded with a free kick for Stevenage from a promising position following a Reda Johnson foul on Darius Charles (one of many) but his effort was blocked away by the wall for a corner.
On 65 minutes Stacy Long was replaced on the left by Jennison Myrie-Williams (which if anything makes the Stevenage midfield more attacking.) Immediately following this a 5th goal came for Stevenage, again excellent build up play down the right. Lawrie Wilson showed great control and pace to take on 2 players before slipping the ball to Darius Charles on the edge of the box. The defence didn’t get tight enough to stop him turning to his left and firing a low shot into the bottom corner of the goal, giving O’Donnell no chance.
Wednesday had Semedo playing in a kind of quarter back role; receiving the ball from the defence deep in his half and then looking to play into the feet of JJ and Marshall et al. Too often he was frustrated and force to chip it long after nobody gave him a better option. On one of these occasions a mistake in the Stevenage back line allowed Madine to score a consolation goal for the Owls. He took he goal excellently, and with some better service he will score many more of them, but we saw precious little from him in this game (and even less from Clinton, but we heard a lot from him.)
Perhaps in response to the Wednesday goal Craig Reid was brought off and Phil Edwards brought on. I thought this might mean Darius Charles on his own up front with a 5 man midfield, but was pleased to see JMW pushed up front alongside Charles and Walker back out on the left with Edwards holding in front of the back 4. We looked terrible in the brief period we played 4-5-1 against Rochdale.
By 80 minutes the match was pretty much over as a contest. Batth headed over the bar from close range and the individualistic players like JJ were still trying to beat every man twice and then score (and he did one thunder a shot against the bar, but even if he’d scored it would be too little too late.) To further sour the night JJ got himself sent off late on. First of all he was involved in a tangle with Phil Edwards and trod down deliberately on the feisty Liverpudlian. Even as he was claiming the free kick Edwards was taking a swipe across Johnson’s shins in retaliation. The ref could have sent them both off, but took the sensible line and told them both to calm down and get on with it. JJ didn’t heed the warning and 30 seconds later he was off following an incident with Scott Laird. The two tangled and both were pulling shirts, Laird cleared the ball away and in following the ball I didn’t see the incident occur, neither did the referee but the linesman just in front of us started flagging furiously and the ref marched straight over and showed JJ the red card. Clinton had to step in quickly to hold JJ back from confronting the linesman and getting himself in further trouble.
I can’t really think of any negatives for Stevenage on the night, Graham Westley will undoubtedly be disappointed to have conceded, but that’s a very minor blemish on an amazing night for his team. He would have been pleased to see how irate Henry, Laird and Roberts were. There was certainly no-one saying ‘oh-well it was 5-0, who cares?’ and it’s that attitude that keeps you safe from getting complacent, caving in and conceding leads. I can’t pick a man of the match, they were all brilliant.
Wednesday were woeful first half, barely had a sniff. Second half they were a lot better and it was an even game, but it was far, far too late by then. Megson needs to find a way to turn his side around more quickly when they start playing like that. Or better yet get them in the correct mind-set for playing to start with. There was no pressure or negativity from the fans at the game on the night which their easily could have been, so there’s no obvious excuse for the pathetic collapse seen in the first half. They simply lacked belief that they needed to extend themselves to compete in the game and once behind the lacked belief that they could get back into it. Neither of those things is good enough, they looked like they didn’t care. There was more shouting and anger on the faces of the Boro’ back line conceding the one goal at 5-0 than I saw in the Wednesday back line all night. Sure they looked dejected and disappointed, but there was no passion and no evidence that they would kick on and do better, just resignation of “oh-no, here we go again.”
Oh aye Bradford, thanks for your sentiments in the match thread. Frankly I think it was easier for me than for most because at least I take pleasure in watching Stevenage thrash someone. I'd rather it had been anyone other than Wednesday but what can you do?!?
I love watching Stevenage win nearly as much as I hate watching Wednesday lose so I was only just in the negative last night, compared to how everyone else must feel. I just felt numb and slightly disbelieving.
I should add credit to the away fans who at no point were negative or got on the backs of the team. They did everything they could to support them and help them succeed.
Stevenage 5 : 1 Sheffield Wednesday
Page 1 of 1
posted on 14/9/11
The Wednesday team were out early for the second half and they made 3 half time substitutions, JJ on for Julien Bennett, Reda Johnson on for Rob Jones and O’Connor on for Prutton. They must have had an absolute rocket at half time from Megson, but in truth it was hard to pick out any individuals at fault for the first half display. As the bloke behind me put it “they look as though they are thinking ‘tin-pot Stevenage, we should be beating these with our eyes closed. We’re Sheffield Wednesday!’” Certainly the first half knocked that out of them but they were unable to replace that complacency with any drive or believe until Megson got them in at half time and it was already too late.
The second half was much more competitive and made my 2-2 prediction in the pub before the game look a little less ridiculous. The balance of play was fairly even and the first save wasn’t forced for 10 minutes when O’Donnell saved easily from Craig Reid.
John Mousinho left the field to a loud ovation and was replaced Josh Walker who looked his usual solid self, excellent defensive work and excellent distribution. Shortly after the substitution JJ got his box of tricks out and went on a mazy dribble down the right fizzing a shot just over. Josh Walker responded with a free kick for Stevenage from a promising position following a Reda Johnson foul on Darius Charles (one of many) but his effort was blocked away by the wall for a corner.
On 65 minutes Stacy Long was replaced on the left by Jennison Myrie-Williams (which if anything makes the Stevenage midfield more attacking.) Immediately following this a 5th goal came for Stevenage, again excellent build up play down the right. Lawrie Wilson showed great control and pace to take on 2 players before slipping the ball to Darius Charles on the edge of the box. The defence didn’t get tight enough to stop him turning to his left and firing a low shot into the bottom corner of the goal, giving O’Donnell no chance.
Wednesday had Semedo playing in a kind of quarter back role; receiving the ball from the defence deep in his half and then looking to play into the feet of JJ and Marshall et al. Too often he was frustrated and force to chip it long after nobody gave him a better option. On one of these occasions a mistake in the Stevenage back line allowed Madine to score a consolation goal for the Owls. He took he goal excellently, and with some better service he will score many more of them, but we saw precious little from him in this game (and even less from Clinton, but we heard a lot from him.)
Perhaps in response to the Wednesday goal Craig Reid was brought off and Phil Edwards brought on. I thought this might mean Darius Charles on his own up front with a 5 man midfield, but was pleased to see JMW pushed up front alongside Charles and Walker back out on the left with Edwards holding in front of the back 4. We looked terrible in the brief period we played 4-5-1 against Rochdale.
By 80 minutes the match was pretty much over as a contest. Batth headed over the bar from close range and the individualistic players like JJ were still trying to beat every man twice and then score (and he did one thunder a shot against the bar, but even if he’d scored it would be too little too late.) To further sour the night JJ got himself sent off late on. First of all he was involved in a tangle with Phil Edwards and trod down deliberately on the feisty Liverpudlian. Even as he was claiming the free kick Edwards was taking a swipe across Johnson’s shins in retaliation. The ref could have sent them both off, but took the sensible line and told them both to calm down and get on with it. JJ didn’t heed the warning and 30 seconds later he was off following an incident with Scott Laird. The two tangled and both were pulling shirts, Laird cleared the ball away and in following the ball I didn’t see the incident occur, neither did the referee but the linesman just in front of us started flagging furiously and the ref marched straight over and showed JJ the red card. Clinton had to step in quickly to hold JJ back from confronting the linesman and getting himself in further trouble.
I can’t really think of any negatives for Stevenage on the night, Graham Westley will undoubtedly be disappointed to have conceded, but that’s a very minor blemish on an amazing night for his team. He would have been pleased to see how irate Henry, Laird and Roberts were. There was certainly no-one saying ‘oh-well it was 5-0, who cares?’ and it’s that attitude that keeps you safe from getting complacent, caving in and conceding leads. I can’t pick a man of the match, they were all brilliant.
Wednesday were woeful first half, barely had a sniff. Second half they were a lot better and it was an even game, but it was far, far too late by then. Megson needs to find a way to turn his side around more quickly when they start playing like that. Or better yet get them in the correct mind-set for playing to start with. There was no pressure or negativity from the fans at the game on the night which their easily could have been, so there’s no obvious excuse for the pathetic collapse seen in the first half. They simply lacked belief that they needed to extend themselves to compete in the game and once behind the lacked belief that they could get back into it. Neither of those things is good enough, they looked like they didn’t care. There was more shouting and anger on the faces of the Boro’ back line conceding the one goal at 5-0 than I saw in the Wednesday back line all night. Sure they looked dejected and disappointed, but there was no passion and no evidence that they would kick on and do better, just resignation of “oh-no, here we go again.”
posted on 14/9/11
Oh aye Bradford, thanks for your sentiments in the match thread. Frankly I think it was easier for me than for most because at least I take pleasure in watching Stevenage thrash someone. I'd rather it had been anyone other than Wednesday but what can you do?!?
I love watching Stevenage win nearly as much as I hate watching Wednesday lose so I was only just in the negative last night, compared to how everyone else must feel. I just felt numb and slightly disbelieving.
I should add credit to the away fans who at no point were negative or got on the backs of the team. They did everything they could to support them and help them succeed.
Page 1 of 1