McGovern's goal gives Owls the edge in the play-offs

The Owls will travel to Griffin Park next week with a priceless one goal lead after a Jon-Paul McGovern goal proved to be the winner in the first leg of the play-off semi-final at Hillsborough. The Wednesday winger crashed home a 12th minute right footed half-volley.

Wednesday dominated the rest of the first half and came close to doubling their advantage when McGovern cracked a shot against the crossbar. The Bee's defence looked shaky and a second goal would've spelt real trouble for Martin Allen's men.

The second half was a different story. The visitors came back into the game and the Owls had to really roll up their sleeves and fight for the result. Wednesday gave away too many free-kicks and rarely threatened upfront but Brentford failed to carve out any clear cut chances.

The Owls held on to their 1-0 win - advantage Wednesday.

This from BigOwl:

Dont really have time to type much as the demands of renewed stewdentship mean I have to get my arse in gear and work on uni stuff tonight. I would however like to score the players for their efforts (for those who weren't there or didn't see the game on Sky):

Lucas  7/10  much better keeper than Gallacher, glad to see him back, had one good save to make.
Bruce  7/10 the 18 yr old has started to mature a little. His passing can be poor but he doesn't shirk tackles.
Bullen 7.5/10 Solid tonight, his heading was powerful and he marshalled the defence well.
Wood 7/10 Did everything asked of him, never let the Brentford boot boys ruffle his feathers.
Heckingbottom 8/10 Up and down the left side, solid in defence and thrusting in attack.
JP 9/10 Immense performance, spectacular goal and how I wish that second shot had gone in off the bar.
Rocastle 5/10 I'm waiting to hear Sturrocks reasons for fielding this lacklustre player. Better game than usual but my dead gran tackles harder and probably has more pace.
Whelan 9/10 The legacy left by CT shone through the crowd today. Class.
Hamshaw 6/10 Struggles out on the left. Better to have played him central instead of Rocastle.
Quinn 7.5/10 Won a lot of ball, set JP up for the goal and was mercilessly pummeled by many a bees player. Got booked by a piss poor ref for complaining after said official gave a decision once again the wrong way.
Peacock 6/10 Still someways off fit but was the right choice against the batterers of london.

Subs
MacMahon (Nice to see him back)
Talbot
Brunt

Crowd SUPPOSEDLY ONLY 28,600 but far bigger than saturdays near 29000 crowd. Must have been 32000 at least and they were Fabulous. 9/10

Ref and officials 3/10  Apallingly poor.

Ref and linesman missed 2 dead cert sendings off. One where Quinn was elbowed in the face in front of a linesman and second when the ref only gave Rankine a yellow for hacking down Whelan after the ball had gone.

BigOwl

Half-time: Owls 1-0 Brentford

Paul Sturrock's post match comments: