Owls Rodgered

Wednesday's progress heading into the new season took a turn for the worse on the weekend after League One Port Vale stuffed the Owls 3-0 at Vale Park. The Owls backline couldn't handle the strike pairing of Luke Rodgers and Akpo Sodje who finished the game with all three goals between them.

With the season kick off at Portman Road exactly a fortnight away, Brian Laws used the friendly as an opportunity to field a strong starting line-up. His first XI, however, did exclude winger Chris Brunt and utility defender Lee Bullen. Laws, and supporters alike, will be a bit worried after Vale comprehensively swept Wednesday aside.

The home side hit the Owls hard twice in the opening quarter of an hour and they never recovered. Steve Watson felled Rodgers in the box after 11 minutes and the Vale forward picked himself up to beat Rob Burch for 1-0. The scoreline was doubled two minutes later. Another error by the Owls defence allowed Rodgers to fire the ball home from outside the box.

Jermaine Johnson came as close as it got for a goal at the other end in the first half when the Jamaican's shot rattled the crossbar, but not before Wednesday had their own crossbar to thank after Sodje's shot had Burch beaten for a third time.

Vale effectively killed the game off just seconds into the second half. Richard Hinds was robbed of the ball and left on his rear end by Rodgers who in turn squared the ball to partner Sodje who did the rest. 3-0, game over.

The Owls have a chance to recover in midweek when they travel to Oldham, managed by former Owl John Sheridan, before the final pre-season game at home to Premier League newcomers Birmingham City.

Steve Watson post match comments: "Results aren't hellishly important but performances are and Saturday was the worse by a mile." "We have two weeks to put it right and we will do that. Maybe it will give us the kick up the backside that is going to spur us on to put a performance on against Oldham and Birmingham before the season starts."

Richard Hinds post match comments: "We were all disappointed with the result, especially with the performance which is not what we expect." "Up to then, we'd had a really good build-up. We have got some good training work in here and had a good trip to Holland. The main thing is to be ready for 11 August, it doesn't matter what we do now, it's that first league game that counts."