Forest fire four past troubled Owls

The start to Wednesday's 2002/03 season officially turned bad on Saturday when Nottingham Forest fired four past a woeful Wednesday side.

One point from the first two games was hardly the start manager Terry Yorath had been looking for, but this result is an early warning sign that this season will be no different to the last two. The Owls now lie third from bottom, an all too familiar position in the table, having scored once in three games, having conceded five in the last two games, and Gerald Sibon's sending off shortly after half-time was their second dismissal of the season already.

Wednesday and Forest had endured similar fortunes in their opening two games, and so a win was equally important to both sides. No-one really expected the Owls to lie down and take the beating that Forest handed out to them.

A 3rd minute goal from David Johnson, who spent time on loan at Hillsborough last season, was certainly not the start Yorath had hoped for. A second Forest goal two minutes after half-time was even worse. A flurry of goals from Riccardo Scimeca put the nail in the coffin for Wednesday, who must now go back to the drawing board and re-think their game plan.

They have six days to prepare for their first local derby of the season when Rotherham United visit Hillsborough. On this form, Owls fans might want to prepare for the worst.

This report from the official SWFC website:

It was an afternoon of sweltering temperatures, both on and off the pitch, at the City Ground, but Forest weathered the storm to run out easy 4-0 winners. David Johnson, Jack Lester and Riccardo Scimeca (2) struck to give the hosts victory, and Gerald Sibon saw red after picking up two second-half bookings in quick succession.

On a sweltering afternoon in Nottingham, the Wednesday back three of Soltvedt, Bromby and Burrows felt the heat right from the word go. The searing pace of Johnson - and later on Marlon Harewood - troubled them throughout the match, but on no occasion as damaging as the third minute of the match.

A hopeful punt upfield by the home defence caught Soltvedt napping and, after his colleagues failed to clear the danger, Johnson rifled a left-footed drive past Pressman from 10 yards. It could have been worse just six minutes later, when Bromby was beaten to a ball over the top by Harewood. But he was thankful that referee Paul Danson controversially deemed that Harewood had pulled the Owls defender back, just the ball was entering the net for a second time.

Danson proceeded to feature as tempers rose with the thermometer throughout the half, infuriating both sets of supporters with some strange decisions. Bromby, Donnelly and Burrows all followed Jack Lester into Danson's notebook, with Burrows' yellow card being the most straight-forward after he clattered into Johnson from behind, minutes after the pair appeared to begin something of a running feud.

Johnson himself then added fuel to the fire when, after being roundly booed by over 3,000 Wednesdayites for his role in Burrows' caution, he proceeded to run to his former supporters to show them his Forest badge.

When they could prevent the home side's lightning front six from running at them, Wednesday did manage to break forward and fashion some chances of their own. Sibon was, as ever, at the heart of the Owls' best work up front, drawing a flying parry from Darren Ward after a Kuqi knock-down, then glancing a header from Beswetherick's corner against the post, before again testing Ward with a stinging 25-yard daisy-cutter - from which Donnelly could not convert the rebound.

Leon Knight was introduced for his competitive Wednesday debut, five minutes into the second half - but not before Paul Hart's side had extended their lead. Once again, Johnson was instrumental in the move, running at the Owls back-line from midfield - it was Sibon who chased him all the way back to the penalty area. But then the ex-Owls loanee slipped a simple pass to the overlapping Jack Lester, who sidefooted past Pressman from 12 yards.

Half-time: Forest 1-0 Owls

Wednesday looked for a way back into the match on 55 minutes, when Kuqi twisted and turned in the Forest penalty area, and forced Ward into saving his shot on the line - Louis-Jean nodded Knight's hooked rebound shot over the bar.

But the game was up four minutes later when Sibon picked up his second booking in quick succession. As the Owls' ten-men struggled ever more to deal with the Forest fire, Riccardo Scimeca doubled the agony. First he overlapped in the inside-right channel to pick up Harewood's lay-off and make it three on 69 minutes. Four minutes later, the same combination produced a fourth - Harewood bursting past Soltvedt on the right wing and then holding the ball up for the ex-Villa man to finish from 15 yards.

Five minutes from time, Des Walker was inches away from only the second goal of his long career. After breaking up an Owls forage forward, he advanced into the Wednesday penalty area, only for Pressman to narrowly beat him to the right-wing cross.