Owls undone by late Blues goal

Chris Turner's men put in a brave effort against a strong Birmingham City side that boasted summer signing Emile Heskey, who made the £6m move from Liverpool this summer. The Owls defended well and created a few good scoring opportunities, but it was the finished at the end of the end that was the difference between the two sides.

Mikael Forssell's 77th minute strike was the only goal of the game but the result did not disappoint an impressive crowd of 8,428 that turned up to Hillsborough for the friendly.

The Owls face further Premier League opposition this Saturday when Sam Allardyce's Bolton Wanderers visit Hillsborough, and then Everton next Tuesday.

This report from BigOwl:

It will probably please most of you to know Im not going to go into some longwinded analysis of tonights game. The fact that it was a friendly played at three quarter pace meant it was always an exercise in team building and position selections. Interestingly for whatever reason both Marsden and Branston were missing from the squad and the Owls lined up as follows:-

Lucas in goal with a back four consisting of Lee and Collins in the centre and Bullen and Heckingbottom in the full back berths. Midfield saw Brunt out left and McGovern out right with Whelan and Hamshaw in the centre. Proudlock partnered Peacock up front.

Now you might think that with a midfield where 23 yr old McGovern was the oldest facing the likes of Savage and co we would be outshone but it didnt happen. In fact Whelan showed a great range of passing alongside a willingness to tackle and track back. Hamshaw was very comfortable in central midfield. Although the Brum side was bristling with internationals they did not look much better than a competetive Owls side who matched them in all departments with the battles between Brunt and Melchiot and Heskey and Colling particularly exciting.

The Owls boys did well in both fights. Although there were the odd attacks it took until the 30th minute for Heskey to manage a shot on target which Lucas saved with ease. Less than a minute later Proudlock broke upfield and beat his man to put in a lovely cross which Peacock managed to get the top of his head to but the looping ball just failed to beat the keeper.

Heskey partnering Forsell were being contained well. After half time Lee failed to re-appear after taking a first half knock and Carr (he of own goal slice vs QPR) came on. Bullen went to centre half and Carr slotted in at right back. Birmingham had more of the second half possession and Forsell came close on a couple of occasions. Maclean came on for Proudlock and GNN for Peacock. MacMahon came on for McGovern with Hamshaw switching out to the wing.

GNN injected a little pace and Maclean very nearly set up a good chance. Sadly the difference between the clubs in the end was the quality of the strikers and Forsell managed to slot home with around 12 minutes left. Although we tried the Owls could not break down the Brummie defence and the match ended with the crowd rising to clap both teams off the pitch.

It has to be said that this was a far better Owls side than anything seen last season and there certainly didnt look 2 divisions between the sides. Brum shaded it on possession but it was never going to be a walkover (on the night Hull City lost 0-4 at home to Man City).

There were lots of positives and here for what they are worth are my player comments:-

Lucas 7/10, Calm and assured, little chance on the goal
Bullen 9/10, Excellent at RB and did a very good job later on at centre half
Lee 7/10, Just what you would expect from the big guy
Collins 7/10, I expected him to be out of his depth but he wasnt. Great game from the kid
Heckingbottom 8/10, What we have been missing at LB, a defender who can defend, go forward and looked comfy on the ball
Brunt 7/10, Some great stuff from young Chris, faded in the 2nd half
Hamshaw 7/10, Looked very comfy in the centre, battled well
Whelan 8/10, Looks a huge prospect on this performance
McGovern 6/10, Didnt get into the game as much but the opposition defence were very good. One superb cross
Proudlock 6/10, Still looks out of sorts playing at home, great cross for our best chance
Peacock 6/10, Suffered from lack of service
Subs:-
Carr 6/10, Looked far more steady today
MacLean 6/10, Little chance to shine
GNN 6/10, Had the Brum defence outpaced but still held on to the ball too long MacMahon.

They did look to have the extra bit of fitness towards the end which is a bit of a worry but considering the quality of the opposition and the job Collins did on Heskey its a minor niggle. Bullen looks to be the acquisition of the summer and the defence look far better than last term. Not sure we have yet sorted out which strikers should play together and having these friendlies against premiership defences makes it harder for them to get into the scoring habit before the real games start. Looking forward to saturday against Bolton who incidentally lost 1-0 at Chesterfield tonight!

Half-time: Owls 0-0 Birmingham

Chris Turner's post match comments...
"We worked tremendously hard. We defended well because the movement of Heskey and Forssell could have created openings. I just look at the shape of the team, particularly when we haven't got the ball, and it looked reasonably good."

"We won't come up against the quality of defenders that we did against Birmingham, so we know we'll score goals. Peacock, Proudlock, MacLean, Sungu and Jon Shaw can all goals - they've proved it. I appreciate Steve (Bruce) bringing his first team squad and treating the game with a lot of respect by keeping the majority of them on for 90 minutes. It was a good workout."