Owls battered by Boro
The inconsistent start to the season continued for the Owls when they were comprehensively thrashed 4-0 by Middlesbrough at the Riverside stadium. It was an all round bad day for Wednesday when in the last minute Andy
Hinchcliffe was given a red card for foul on Boro striker Mikkel Beck.
There were call-ups into the team for Jim Magilton and Ritchie Humphreys and Scott Oakest was also given a run when Norwegian Petter Rudi went off injured after just 17 minutes. Danny Wilson opted to play a 4-5-1 formation with Humphreys up front by himself - it backfired badly.
Middlesbrough are always a tough team to beat at the Riverside Stadium, the last time the Owls played there back in the 1996/97 season it was a 4-2 to Boro. The scoring began on 27 minutes, some poor marking by the Owls defence and Beck sneaked in unmarked from a cross to make it 1-0.
Wednesday's best chance of the game came when Swede Niclas Alexandersson had his shot brilliantly saved by Schwarzer. It was 2-0 right on the half-time whistle when a defensive mixup between Kevin Pressman and Emerson Thome let in Beck to score his second and Boro's second.
Half-time: Middlesbrough 2-0 Owls
In-form Colombian striker Ricard took advantage of some further more slack defending to make it 3-0, after Thome made another mess of a back-pass to the keeper. Magilton almost pulled one back for the Owls but his effort went just over the bar and shortly afterwards Beck almost had his hat-trick but was denied by an offside ruling.
The misery was complete when Owls full-back Hinchcliffe was sent off for a foul on Beck on the edge of the box. From the resulting free-kick Boro got their fourth from a well taken Gascoigne free-kick.
This loss boosted Middlesbrough up the table and sent the Owls in the opposite direction. There's a two week break now for International matches but next the Owls
will travel to Highfield Road to play Coventry City.
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Hinchcliffe