Owls hopes spurred on by late Tommy strike

A spectacular late volley from defender Tommy Spurr salvaged a draw for Wednesday, a club record seventh in a row, against former Owls boss Paul Sturrock and his Plymouth Argyle side. While the result all but ended Argyle's hopes for a play-off spot it was a point that lifted the Owls two places out of the bottom three.

Plymouth had lead with a freak goal in the 2nd minute of the match. Peter Halmosi's left foot free kick crashed off Deon Burton in the wall and left keeper Lee Grant stranded and unable to claw the ball away from his right hand post. It was a killer early blow that left Hillsborough stunned. But Wednesday kept their nerve and went on to boss the match and carve open most of the game's best scoring chances.

The Owls played with a high tempo but passes often lacked that extra bit of quality and there was a lack of composure shown in front of goal throughout.

Adam Bolder, a hero last week in the Sheffield derby, should have done much better in the 22nd minute after he raced through down the right but his cross aimed for Ben Sahar was a poor one and Argyle defender Paul Connolly cleared easily.

Bolder was involved again in Wednesday's next best chance. The on loan QPR man won a free-kick on the edge of the box but again the chance was wasted as Franck Songo'o blasted over into the Leppings Lane end.

Spurr crossed from the left and, with Argyle keeper Luke McCormick out of position, Jermaine Johnson blasted a half volley narrowly wide with his left foot when a little more accuracy and a little less power would have seen the scores even at the break.

Plymouth threatened to put the game to bed shortly into the second half. Jermaine Easter got the better of Mark Beevers but Grant was equal to the effort to the relief of the home side.

The Owls continued to see plenty of ball in the second period but scoring opportunities were few and far between and the service to Burton and Sahar was not great. In the 65th minute Brian Laws opted to freshen things up by bringing on Polish loan forward Bartosz Slusarski and winger Wade Small.

Wednesday pressed for the equaliser as Songo'o forced McCormick into his first serious save from a free-kick, which the visiting number one tipped round the post. Soon later a Deon Burton header was saved on the line and it seemed as though all hope was gone when Small flashed a driving left foot shot wide of the post from a good position inside the box.

With just minutes remaining Sturrock pulled off former Wednesday striker Steven MacLean, returning to Hillsborough for the first time since his move last summer, who was given a rousing reception from the Hillsborough faithful.

But just when you wondered where a goal would come from up stepped young 20 year old left-back Spurr. The Owls academy product chested down a headed clearance but unleashing an unstoppable 25 yard volley in front of The Kop.

The goal gave the Owls a new lease of life and the final ten minutes of the game belonged to Wednesday who kept knocking on the door for a late winner and an additional two points. It wasn't to be but the full time whistle brought a positive response from a 20,000 strong relieved home crowd.

Laws verdict: "It's going to go to the wire, but the players have a lot of belief and a lot of confidence in their ability. It's all about keeping your nerve. Everyone is going to be nervy down at the bottom, yes we're in a run of form, too many draws, but you'd rather go into the games knowing we'd got confidence than if we'd been losing week in, week out." "It could be as daft as three wins. There is going to be so many twists and turns, I don't think even the top half is going to be finalised until the last game, the last kick." "There are going to be twists and turns on the very last day and I think that could be the same at the bottom." "Unless somebody falls away and starts losing the next three games, which I doubt, Leicester will be fighting, Blackpool will be fighting, Coventry, we're all fighting in there and nobody is going to give up." "The pressure is now back on Leicester, obviously they didn't handle it very well against Colchester on Saturday. Everyone is looking at Blackpool, not won in eight games. Are they looking nervy, can they handle the pressure?" "I've told the players 'Keep you're nerve, because we've got a lot of belief that we will do it'."