Cup hangover blues for Wednesday

Wednesday's Worthington cup honeymoon was well and truly over when local rivals Barnsley brought them back down to earth with a crashing 3-0 defeat at Oakwell. The Tykes, second off bottom going into the game, proved to everyone that form counts for nothing in these derby games, as they outdid Yorath's midweek cup heros.

The Owls' defence hadn't let in a goal in 360 minutes of football going into the game, but it took only four minutes for Barnsley skipper Chris Morgan to find the back of the net. It was bad start for Wednesday, but it was to get worse. The first half was entirely dominated by the home side as the Owls failed to get a grip on the game.

Terry Yorath was hoping his side could get into half-time only one down, but Mike Sheron's striker four minutes before the break made that an impossibility. Things weren't much better in the second half for Wednesday as Barnsley continued to dominate proceedings. A second goal for Sheron in the 85th minute put the icing on the cake for the home fans, and for new manager Steve Parkin who celebrated his first win as Tykes' boss.

This match report from the TeamTalk website:

A Chris Morgan goal and a brace from Mike Sheron condemned Wednesday to a 3-0 defeat at Barnsley as their poor record at Oakwell continues. Morgan opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute when Darren Barnard's free-kick was flicked on by Bruce Dyer and captain Morgan slid in at the far post to get The Tykes off to the perfect start.

Sheron made sure Barnsley took a two-goal advantage into the half-time interval when Chris Lumsdon's low ball into the box was contested by Dyer and Kevin Pressman and the ball broke kindly for Sheron, who made no mistake in passing into an empty net on 40 minutes. Barnsley dominated the opening 45 minutes and should have had even more goals. Dyer twice forced Pressman into early saves from the edge of the area, Steve Chettle headed over and Pressman made a wonderful save from debutant Gary Jones's 30-yard drive.

Dyer thought he had put Barnsley 2-0 up on the half-hour mark when his goalbound header hit strike-partner Sheron's head and deflected away to safety, before Sheron saw his over-head kick cleared off the line. Sheron then grabbed the second that allowed Barnsley to slow the tempo in the second 45 minutes.

Half-time: Barnsley 2-0 Owls

Wednesday finally got into the game and Gerald Sibon hit an early chance wide before Efan Ekoku fired handsomely wide when Owen Morrison and Pablo Bonvin were better placed. Bonvin saw his 69th-minute effort from the edge of the area fumbled by Kevin Miller, but the Barnsley defence reacted first and cleared to safety.

Ekoku missed Wednesday's chance of the game when he was sent clean through on goal but failed to connect properly and Miller pushed it wide of the post. Barnsley still had chances of their own to add to their lead, though. Gary Jones again forced Pressman into a good save with a long-range effort, Dyer saw his snap-shot well held and Sheron headed wide when he should have at least hit the target.

Sheron made amends for that miss and sealed the much-needed three points for The Tykes with just five minutes remaining when Kevin Donovan's cross found him at the back post and his header flew past Pressman for 3-0. Wednesday have failed to win at Oakwell since 1984 and are now just four points above their South Yorkshire rivals, who are second bottom in Division One.