Owls revival continues at City Ground

Match report from Sporting-Life:

Gerald Sibon, the man who was accused by former Sheffield Wednesday boss Paul Jewell of lacking the appetite for First Division football, boosted the Owls survival hopes with a touch of magic to settle a dour affair against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

With David Platt's men chasing a place in the top six and Wednesday looking for a victory to lift them out of the bottom three, both sides were desperate to avoid defeat and it showed in a game which, though eventful, produced few clear-cut chances for either side.

Alan Quinn had an early chance to give the visitors the upper hand, but his 18-yard drive skimmed harmlessly wide of Dave Beasant's far post. But Forest, with £3million striker David Johnson leading the line and still looking for his first goal since singing from Ipswich, looked slick on the break during the opening exchanges. And with just under 10 minutes gone, defender Christian Edwards was unlucky to see his powerful header fly over the bar following a corner on the right.

Andy Johnson was pulling the strings in midfield and almost sent Marlon Harewood away, but the young striker was hustled off the ball by a resolute Wednesday defence. Johnson will feel he should have done better when put clear down the left by Jim Brennan, but with Forest players surging into the box, he could not keep the ball in play.

On the half hour, Forest got a sharp reminder that there were two teams in the game when Beasant had to come to the edge of his box to deny Efan Ekoku. Wednesday began to find a bit of space themselves as the half wore on and Trond Soltvedt flashed a drive wide from the edge of the box after Quinn had done well to force a corner. Visitors keeper Kevin Pressman had to be on his toes to stop Gary Jones' long-range effort and then Leigh Bromby failed to connect with a header from no more than six yards as the Owls forced a succession of corners in first-half stoppage time.

Half-time: Forest 0-0 Owls

Forest knew a win would put them level on points with fellow-promotion chasers Watford and missed a golden chance to go ahead just after the interval when Ricardo Scimeca blazed over after the ball fell invitingly for him at the edge of the area.

A win was also crucial to Wednesday's hopes of beating the drop and to the instructions of animated caretaker-boss Peter Shreeves, all eleven men continued to hustle for every loose ball. Indeed, the visitors could easily have scored themselves had someone been on hand to turn Sibon's low cross into an empty net. Instead the ball ran across the goalline and behind for the goalkick - a testament to the sort of luck which Wednesday have endured throughout a troubled campaign.

With little more than 20 minutes to go, David Platt made his third substitution of the night when Trinidad and Tobago international Stern John replaced Harewood in a hope to liven up the lacklustre Forest attack. But it was Wednesday who again looked dangerous on the break and Edwards did well to get back and block Ekoku's angled drive after the pacy Nigerian had broken clear. From the resulting corner, the ball fell to Sibon and the big Dutchman sidestepped his marker before firing a wonderful low drive into the far corner to set up an interesting final quarter-of-an-hour.

Forest laid siege to the Wednesday goal, but for once lady luck seemed to be smiling on the South Yorkshire club. It would have been harsh on the visitors had Chris Bart-Williams' curling free-kick found its way past Pressman in the dying minutes, but the Wednesday veteran showed great agility to turn the ball around the post at full stretch.