Lions loss is too much for Yorath

The Owls' dismal season continued in midweek with an abysmal 1-0 home defeat to fellow League strugglers Millwall. The result proved too much to take for Wednesday manager Terry Yorath, who handed in his resignation letter the next morning.

It came as something of a suprise seeing as in his post-match comments the night before he had vowed to battle on. But what's done is done and now the Owls, yet again, will search for a new manager. With that comes new hope that someone can take this shambles of a club back into the Premier League.

Wednesday's start to the season, just two wins in their opening 16 games, simply wasn't good enough. Yorath surely knew it would take something special to keep him in a job by the end of the season.

The Millwall defeat was the final straw really, after having been beaten by the same scoreline at Watford on the weekend. And frustratingly it was the same old story - played well but came away with nothing.

Yorath may reflect on what might've been for him as Wednesday manager, but it was always going to be tough for the Welshman. He had no money to bring players in, was under pressure to sell star players and was generally in charge of cleaning up a club that has been in a mess for some time now. One thing remains clear though - the current squad should be good enough for midtable in this division.

Relegation to Division Two would be an absolute disaster for the club, a new low. Now this new man in charge, whoever he may be, has the task of lifting the Owls out of the bottom three.

This report from the BBC Football website:

Terry Yorath's reign as Sheffield Wednesday manager is hanging by a thread after his side lost to Millwall. Steve Claridge's fourth goal of the season was enough to divide the teams but the visitors played with more fluency throughout and could have won by a more comfortable margin.

The veteran striker scored the only goal after 18 minutes and the home faithful made their feelings known as they chanted for Yorath's depature as the game drew to a close. The Owls have now lost eight league games this season and are deep in the relegation mire. They lost to Millwall despite making a bright start when on-loan striker Leon Knight jinked past two players before firing a low shot wide of visiting keeper Tony Warner's right-hand post from 22 yards.

Dutch midfielder Gerald Sibon then burst forward and unleashed a powerful 30-yard drive which went just over the angle of post and crossbar. Claridge, who had spurned an earlier chance, scored the evntual winner after 18 minutes with a right-foot shot from 12 yards after Neil Harris nodded the ball into his path.

Wednesday almost responded immediately when Knight's powerful right-foot effort from 15 yards was brilliantly parried by Warner before being hacked to safety. The former Liverpool stopper was then called upon to keep out Alan Quinn's angled drive after 22 minutes.

The visitors again threatened after 35 minutes when Robbie Ryan went close And Harris, who was proving a constant menace, turned Danny Maddix on the edge of the area before the break only to see his curling left-foot shot go just wide.

Wednesday should have equalised five minutes after the restart. But, with only Warner to beat from eight yards, the former Celtic player fired his low shot straight at the keeper. Claridge should have wrapped things up for Millwall with eight minutes but Owls keeper Kevin Pressman got the faintest of touches to deflect his effort wide for a corner.

Half-time: Owls 0-1 Millwall