Derby double heartbreak for Owls

It was a tough weekend if you were part of the blue and white side of Sheffield. Neil Warnock's promotion destined Blades outfit raided Hillsborough with a 2-1 victory in the Sheffield derby, condeming Wednesday to their first derby double defeat for 14 years.

In all honesty the one goal defecit at the final whistle was a far cry from what it could, and possibly should, have been. It was only until the final fifteen minutes that Owls fans had anything to be excited about. Finally Wednesday were playing the direct style of football they probably should have played from the outset. Steven MacLean was tripped up by Blades skipper Chris Morgan with ten minutes left. The Scot stepped up to comfortably slot home his first goal since that all important penalty at Millennium Stadium back in May.

But there was no fairytale ending for the Owls this time. They paid the price for two killer blows just before the break. The first came from Blades midfielder Michael Tonge who unleashed an unstoppable free-kick from Wednesday's right-back spot. The flapping arms of Chris Adamson were not enough to prevent the ball from flying into the back of the net infront of the Kop.

Just seven minutes later the Blades threw their second sucker punch at Sturrock's troops. This time a long ball from the left went over the head of Lee Bullen and into the path of dangerman Ade Akinbiyi, who waited for the ball to sit up nicely before firing a powerful half volley past Adamson in the Wednesday goal.

Two down at the break and with it all to do in the second half.

Half-time: Owls 0-0 Blades

The Owls faithful, the majority of the Championship's biggest crowd of the season of 33,439, didn't see what they had hoped at the start of the second half. There were no changes in the line-up for the second half, nor was there a change in who looked more likely to score.

Ade Akinbiyi missed an absolute sitter from yards out with a desperate diving header infront of his own fans.

The Blades continued to dominate and the game was slipping out of Wednesday's reach. Sturrock sent on Marcus Tudgay and Ritchie Partridge around the hour mark but the Owls never really came into the game for a further ten or fifteen minutes.

By that time it was all a little too late. Wednesday threw everything they had at the Blades in the dying moments though. Chris Brunt felt he had a good shout for a penalty when he was brought down in mid-air by a United defender, whilst Glenn Whelan had a half chance cleared off the line.

The Blades held on to victory, condeming Sturrock to an embarassing derby double defeat. Not to mention more points dropped in the chase for survival.

Paul Sturrock post match comments:
"I'm very disappointed with our performance in the first half. We've got a young team that didn't react properly to a derby. The individual battles which had to be won all over the pitch, weren't. We chased the game and they had two or three glorious chances."

Neil Warnock (Sheff.Utd manager) post match comments:
"It was a great team performance. It's just a fantastic feeling to come to Hillsborough and win 2-1. There's no tougher game than coming to Hillsborough against the enemy. I was told last week that Chris Morgan would not be available all week - but what a performance."