Chester sends Owls crashing out

After the elevating 3-0 win at Wrexham last weekend the Owls came crashing down to earth when League Two side Chester City, managed by former Liverpool great Ian Rush, sent Wednesday out of the LDV Vans Trophy for the 2004/05 season with two goals in three minutes.

This report from Owls-nut Beastie...

Well, what a let down this was, after the glowing reports from Wales. Add those to Sturrock saying he's fielding a strong team, because he wants to win every game, and this trophy will do very nicely too, along with opposition from the lower reaches of the division below us, and I was expecting big, big things.

In truth, the first half was played at half pace, certainly by us, and it looked a case of class will tell, as although we didn't play well, we looked comfortable. Even Chester looked as though they were only there to make the numbers up, and didn't look at all convinced they could take anything from this.

The big lad up front for them, Stamp, although quiet in the first half, still impressed me, with his willingness to at least try when his team mates didn't look too bothered. The thing is, although at times we were passing the ball about well, it had all the hallmarks of being one of those games.

We didn't create too many clear cut chances, even for all our possession. The atmosphere was less than that of a reserve game for the most part, in fact I got sick of hearing every single word a group of lasses said in their giggly little teen talks, and inane attempts at getting Jon Shaws attention, by shouting "sexy" at him.

I can't imagine they saw much of the game at all. On second thoughts, maybe they knew something and I had it wrong. The game looked desperate for a goal early on, from anyone, just to liven it up and create some atmosphere from the sparse crowd, though to be fair to the Chester fans, there weren't many of them but they made a bit of noise. Was their drum one of those with the bits in that little kids have? Sounded like it. I'll bet the guy who plays it was in the army or forces or sommat, because all their "toons" were marches.

I half expected the team to make a formation and start marching around the pitch. They marched around us in the second half, for sure. Chester had a nice little chance go just over the bar from a free kick, which was about their only meaningful bit of play for the whole of the first half, as we dominated, without looking overly impressive.

We took the lead on the half hour mark and deservedly so after a nice bit of play leading up to the goal. At times there was some nice stuff played, Proudlock and MacLean at times looking as though they were getting a good working relationship going, with Proudlock looking very lively.

The half time whistle couldn't really come soon enough IMO for what was an annoying 45 minutes of play IMO. We should have taken hold of the game, and shaken the life out of it, instead we plodded along expecting Chester to just give in and go away.

Well they had other plans didn't they? Second half and more of the same, but Rushie had given them a rollicking and they upped their game a little, and sent a couple of warnings to the Owls, not to underestimate them. Ellison became more and more involved for Chester and injected a bit of belief into the team.

It wasn't too long before the almost inevitable sucker punch came along. Nearly 70 minutes gone and they scored. Just to rub the salt into the wounds, and make sure the Wednesday players were fully aware of what was going on, a couple of minutes later, up popped Ellison to spank a good shot low and hard into the Wednesday net.

You'd think this would galvanise the Owls team into giving "the little team" a pasting, and shut 'em up, but no, we continued to not only think we could stroll the game, but the possession we had in the first half, started to turn a little sour, as the nice neat passes, started to go astray, and we stood off them, inviting them on.

Yeah, we had some chances, and they were well blocked, saved, or stopped by whatever means, but the damage was done, and the confidence grew in Chester, as Rush told them to play smart and not rush things now (no pun intended). He even told one of their players, who was running to go off and be subbed to STOP running, and walk slowly.

Of course it didn't need anything more for "that" section of the crowd to make their opinions known, as they started booing, and chanting for Allen out. If they wanted to see EXACTLY what effect this has on the team, they needed look no further than Lewis McMahon. His game went to pieces once this started, and yes, I'll lay 90% plus of the reason for his change in play at the boo boys feet, fair and square. An absolute disgrace. You could see him recoil into his shell, and start to increase the amount of mistakes he made, as the crowd vented their frustrations.

I wonder if Sturrock noticed this and that's why he was the one subbed? It wouldn't surprise me at all. I looked to Marsden to get a grip of the team and play a Captains role, but he was found wanting, or rather, found half hearted. Where's the fire? Where's the leadership? It took a day off today.

I wasn't overly impressed with Aljofree either. At least 3 times he wellied the ball high and into the crowd. (Or over the roof) It wasn't called for on every occasion, and I thought we'd moved on from that. I can't see what he offers to our squad that we haven't already got. I will obviously give him time, and I realise he's only here for a month, but I want better than this.

It wasn't all bad. Some players did play well for nearly all the game, and didn't deserve to be on the losing side. JP for one, Proudlock for another. Prolly Lewis too, but overall, it was poor. The referee had a good game IMO, right up until around the 72nd minute when he started, for some reason to make a few howlers.

A pity, as he was very good to start. I can't believe the OWLs fans screamed for a penalty when Needham went down though clear cut a foul on the Chester player as you'll see. The linesman with the plain flag in front of the South Stand made quite a few errors throughout the game, against both sides, giving 3 offsides that were nothing short of scandalous (two for us, one for Chester).

As poor in the last 20 minutes or so as the referee was, IMHO, we got exactly what we deserved from this game. If we are going to play like we did in the first half, and think we can beat a team like Chester just because we are who we are, then, after having loads of possession, but do nothing with it, then this won't be the last time this happens.

Sturrock has his work cut out right enough, and Owls fans have been brought back down to earth with a bump. Well done to Chester and good luck to 'em and Rushie. I liked the look of Stamp, and he's got promise. Ellison wasn't bad second half, even if he does look like Imotep off the Mummy. Back to the drawing board for Sturrock. Back to normal for Owls fans. Cheers, Steve.Beastie.

Half-time: Owls 1-0 Chester

Paul Sturrock's post match comments:

"What I want to tell the fans is that they pay their money and the minimum they should expect is 100 per cent work rate and attitude. I think fans can handle losing if they can walk out the door and say, 'My team gave everything today and we weren't good enough."

"What they can't handle is when the work rate and attitude isn't good enough and if a player wants to play in my team, they have to give me those two ingredients first."

Liam Needham's post match comments:

"I'm disappointed to lose but to make my debut for Sheffield Wednesday is a dream come true."

" I've supported them all my life. But the result is the most important thing of the night. I had butterflies in my stomach for a moment. I couldn't believe I was actually going on. It is a big thing for me which I have now reached. I have set my stall out, this is where I want to be - the first team. I've had my debut from the bench, now it's progressing. I want to get a start for the team now."


AnzOwls' verdict: A disgraceful result against a side fourth off the bottom in England's lowest division.