Owls fire Brum blanks again

Wednesday ended their pre-season campaign with a third successive defeat as newly promoted Premier League outfit Birmingham City ended up 2-0 winners in a friendly match at Hillsborough. Not only was it the third loss on the trot for Brian Laws' side but also the third time the Owls have failed to score in as many games, and the fourth in a row against the West Midlands side.

The need for more fire up front was evident yet again for Wednesday and the failed attempts to lure the likes of Billy Sharp, Patrick Kluivert, Grzegorz Rasiak and Darius Henderson will only add insult to injury for Laws. The Owls boss remains defiant that he will bring a quality forward to Hillsborough before the August transfer window expires.

With Deon Burton unavailable Laws' striking options were limited to say the least, however he started the match with Marcus Tudgay and Leon Clarke before swapping the unimpressive Clarke for Wade Small at half-time.

The quality in finishing proved the difference between the two sides, as it was last season when the Owls were beaten 3-0 (home) and 2-0 (away) by City. Steve Bruces' men got their heads in front early on when new signing Liam Ridgewell glanced a header past Lee Grant from a Gary McSheffrey free-kick after just three minutes.

Jermaine Johnson looked dangerous on the right-wing and was a menace for the visitors all afternoon. Clarke headed wide on a couple of occasions but Wednesday's best chance of the half came from the spot kick. City defender Frank Queudrue tripped Johnson in the box but Chris Brunt, who had already converted twice from the penalty spot in recent weeks, saw his shot saved by Colin Doyle.

Doyle kept City ahead early after the break with a wonderful reflex save from a Lee Bullen effort that was tipped onto the crossbar.

Gary O'Connor sealed the win with a second for City after 66 minutes when broke free of his marker to guide the ball past Grant. It would've been an identical scoreline to the one last December here at Hillsborough if it weren't for the save of the match from summer signing Grant. The man signed from Derby County denied sub Medhi Nafti with a spectacular diving save from a 25 yard shot, much to the delight of the small home crowd.

There were positives to be taken from the game but the Owls will need to improve vastly from their performances over the past seven days if they are to start the season on a winning note next Saturday at Portman Road.

Laws verdict: "I thought there were some real positives to come out of the game, especially with Jermaine Johnson because he was outstanding." "It was a shame we didn't get a goal but the real down side of the game was the way we conceded. The first one was in the first five minutes and it was free kick. But if we are going to make a mistake and our organisation is going to be wrong lets do it in this pre-season game and get it right for Saturday against Ipswich." "It is slightly disappointing that the supporters have jumped on Leon Clarke, who has worked extremely hard in pre-season to get his fitness. Things aren't quite going for him at the moment but if you support the football club you support the players as well and Leon is trying to do his best."