Irons have the last laugh at Laws

Brian Laws will have been forgiven for wishing that Tuesday evening's events were all just a bad dream and that he would awake to a Wednesday morning as ever. More like a mourning on Wednesday. Laws left the Hillsborough dugout to chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning" from a 4,000 strong travelling support of Scunthorpe United fans. They were in a jubilant mood having just watched their side claim a 2-1 win over the boss that had lead their side for 10 years until joining The Owls some 12 months ago.

If nothing else this was one game Laws and his Assistant Manager Russ Wilcox would have wanted the players to win for them. They didn't, and they let their bosses down badly after an inept performance that failed to continue the momentum gained from a fantastic 4-2 win at Stoke in their previous outing.

It was a result that had left Laws either fuming or completely disheartened but either way it was enough for the gaffer to want to hand down the post match press conference duties to his right hand man Wilcox.

Wednesday had actually started the game pretty brightly as Marcus Tudgay fired a shot that fizzed over the crossbar. And in the 23rd minute they won themselves a penalty. Glenn Whelan was blatantly tripped in the box by Jim Goodwin and Deon Burton slotted the ball comfortably into the keeper's top left hand corner.

The Irons struck back with immediate effect. Goodwin pumped a long free kick into the box from the right, Andy Butler headed back across the goal and striker Martin Paterson got in front of Tommy Spurr to stab the ball past Lee Grant from a couple of yards out.

That response seemed to knock the stuffing out of Wednesday who never recovered until half time. Things got worse for them when Richard Wood was stretchered off the park shortly after half an hour with a dislocated shoulder, Lee Bullen coming on at right back with Richard Hinds switching to centre-back.

Paterson grabbed his second to put the visitors in the lead five minutes before the break. Paterson had time to put Cleveland Taylor into far too much space on the right who in turn delivered a return cross for Paterson who ran around both Hinds and Michael Johnson to slide in at the back post. It was the kind of poor quality defending that has killed this Wednesday side time and time again this season.

By this stage the half time whistle couldn't come quick enough as Paterson came close to making it three from a header.

In fairness Wednesday were better after stern words at half-time but they knew this Scunthorpe side was a well drilled unit and they held the home side at bay for the full 45 minutes, much to the delight of their support who celebrated their first ever league success at Hillsborough.

Russ Wilcox verdict: "We obviously want to do well in every game, not just against Scunthorpe United. But we spent a lot of years there and it adds that little bit of spice." "We didn't transfer that on to the players at all. As far as they were concerned it was a home game and a chance to get three points. But it obviously hurts me and Brian a bit more and that's disappointing." When asked how Laws reacted to the Scunthorpe fans' chants after the final whistle, Wilcox added: "I don't know how he reacted to that. You'll have to ask Brian that, but that's part of the game, the nature of the beast."

Nigel Adkins (Scunthorpe manager) verdict: "They're not going to get relegated are they. The table is very close. They have got a good manager at the club. I hope to see Brian afterwards, if he hasn't gone." "Brian Laws did well for Scunthorpe for 10 years and that's why he got the opportunity to come to Sheffield Wednesday. He's a good guy. I've been in the dugout with him for 10 years and we shared the hard times." "It's about sticking together through the hard times and if the right person is in place you stand by him. He should remain manager at Sheffield Wednesday. He's a good one." "But I know it's a results-based business like I'll find out when we start losing matches."