Cardiff here we come! The Owls through to the final

Ee-aye Ee-aye Ee-aye Oh. Up The Football League We Go!

The Owls are now 90 minutes away from promotion after defeating Brentford in the League One Play-off Semi-finals. Wednesday were too good for the Bees in the 2nd leg, played at Griffin Park, and ran out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Lee Peacock (27 minutes) and Chris Brunt (53 minutes). A late goal by the home side made little difference to the outcome of the match, with the Owls 3-1 winners on aggregate thanks to JP McGovern's first leg winner at Hillsborough.

Paul Sturrock will be the man to take Wednesday to the Play-off Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on May 29. It will be Wednesday's first ever Play-off final appearance, and their first match on the Millennium Stadium soil. The Owls can expect a massive following from the Wednesday faithful for that game with a stadium capacity of close to 75,000. The Owls away support was there again in full force at Griffin Park with over 3000 fans outsinging the home crowd for the majority of the match.

The game started at an electric pace and both sides had chances to open the scoring within the first quarter of an hour. Glenn Whelan and Richard Wood had shots saved and Lee Peacock blew a great chance to be through on goal when his touch let him down at the vital moment. At the other end David Lucas was proving why he was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, keeper in this division with a string of fine saves including an incredible left handed stop from Burton's header on 25 minutes.

The first goal was always going to be so important in this second leg tie and would effectively shape the way the rest of the game was played. Luckily, it was Wednesday who scored first. Paul Heckingbottom's dangerous inswinging left foot free-kick found an unmarked Lee Peacock whose header flew into the bottom right hand corner of the net. 1-0 to Wednesday, and 2-0 on aggregate. The Owls had taken a massive step towards Cardiff.

Both defences tightened up after the game's opening goal. The Owls knew they were now fully in control of the game, whilst Martin Allen knew he would need to change his gameplan at the break. There were serious worries for Paul Sturrock shortly before the break when both Lee Peacock and David Lucas were down on the ground needing treatment. The Owls shotstopper, who has only just returned to first team action, appeared to take a high boot to the ribs but soldiered on. No such luck for injury-prone Matthew Hamshaw who was forced to come off minutes before half-time with a hamstring worry. He was replaced by winger Chris Brunt.

Half-time: Brentford 0-1 Owls

The Bees changed their formation at half-time, as expected, and threw an extra forward on. But just eight minutes into the second period the Owls grabbed their second of the evening and effectively booked their place in the final. Chris Brunt's left foot free-kick from 25 yards out took a deflection and found it's way into the net, sending the away fans behind the goal into a fit of excitement.

On the hour mark James Quinn blew two chances in two minutes to end the tie for good when firstly his one on one effort was saved by Nelson, and then his shot at the backpost flew over the bar.

The Owls tightened up at the back and slowed the pace of the game down, killing any last chance Brentford had to win this one. They did grab a goal two minutes from the end. A momentary lapse at the back allowed Andrew Frampton to volley home but it was too little too late for "Mad Dog" Allen's side. The referee blew the final whistle minutes later to end Brentford's season, but confirm Wednesday's place in the final.

Wednesday will now wait to see whether they face Hartlepool United or Tranmere Rovers in the final. Hartlepool took out the first leg with a 2-0 home win last week, and are strong favourites to go through after tomorrow's second leg encounter.

Paul Sturrock's post match comments:
"This club has been in the doldrums for too long, and now we have a chance to move up a league. This season we have been guilty of defending too deep when we have gone away from home. But in this game our back four got themselves high up the pitch, and that was the key to winning the game."