Wednesday cruise to first victory over Crewe

The Owls recorded not only their first win of the season, but their first ever league win over Crewe Alexandra with a comfortable 2-0 victory. Wednesday will have thanked Crewe's Nigerian keeper Ademole Bankole after the match - after his two blunders cost his side dearly at the end of the day. Alex will be kicking themselves for the chances they threw away, which now seems them lying deep at the foot of the table after their second successive defeat.

Wednesday's line-up was almost the same as the one that took the field against Burnley last weekend - the only exception being that the returning Kevin Pressman took place over youngster Chris Stringer. Peter Shreeves, as expected, changed his formation to a 4-4-2 look about it for today's match. Dutchman Gerald Sibon moved out of midfield, and was put upfront to partner Nigerian Efan Ekoku.

Shreeves would have been delighted at the way his side started the match, basically scoring from their first chance of the match. Efan Ekoku was causing problems straight away for the home defence, and his low shot was coughed up by Bankole. Gerald Sibon was on hand to knock the ball home and open his account for the season, 1-0 to the Wednesday.

Sibon nearly grabbed two in as many minutes with a fine 25 yard strike that flew just over the bar. Luck was not on Crewe's side in the 10th minute, when the rebound from Kevin Pressman's save fell just away from Crewe striker Rob Hulse, after Efe Sodje's header was stopped by the Sheffield man. Paul Tait then spurned Crewe's best chance of the half six minutes later. Kenny Lunt did well to find the tall forward and set him up just eight yards out, but Tait shot was spooned over the bar and the chance went begging.

The home team's other good chance of the first half came just moments before the whistle. New signing Dave Brammer's shot looked like it was in, but luckily for the Owls the ball landed on top of the net and not inside it. It had been a first half mixture of good luck for Wednesday, and poor finished for Crewe.

Half-time: Crewe 0-1 Owls

The game settled down in the second half, Wednesday midfield quartet having to fight hard to keep the visitors in the game. Crewe came close just after the break. Dave Walton's header was directed just over the bar, after Alan Navaro had picked him out with a free-kick.

Summer signing Paul McLaren settled the result in the 70th minute. Ian Hendon's cross was again fumbled by Bankole, and it left McLaren with the easiest of tap ins to score his first goal of the season. McLaren had scored twice in pre-season, in wins over York City and Deportivo Alavés, but this was his first official goal for the blue and white side of Sheffield. Crewe's heads dropped, and they never looked like scoring after that.

The win will have lifted spirits around the club, after such a disapointing result last Sunday at home to Burnley. Now the Owls travel to Second Division Bury in midweek, for the first round of the Worthington League Cup. With the two-legged system having been scrapped, there's no space for error.