Owls revive survival hopes with suprise Chelsea win
Wednesday threw themselves a chance of Premier League survival with a suprise win over
Chelsea. The Owls knew before the game it was an all or nothing scenario - anything but
three points would put just another nail in the coffin for them.
But Peter Shreeves' men competed brilliantly and full deserved their victory over the side who
will face Barcelona on Tuesday, in what is possibly the club's biggest match to date.
The one change to the side was that Steven Haslam replaced Northern Ireland full-back Ian Nolan, whilst on-loan
veteran midfielder Barry Horne kept his place in the starting line-up as expected. The Blues rested a few of their players
such as Dennis Wise, Gianfranco Zola and Frank Le Beouf, but their squad is so talent packed that the side they fielded
was still very strong.
There was a minute's silence before the game on what was the 11th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster, where 96
people were killed in what was undoubtedly one of English football's greatest tragedies. The game kicked off and
straight away Chelsea were under pressure Dutch keeper Ed de Goey was forced to go down low to deny Andy Booth.
The signs were there that this could be Wednesday's day.
The Owls continued to play positively but didn't create another chance for 20 minutes. The opportunity fell to Gilles de
Bilde who fired the ball into the side netting from a well delivered Niclas Alexandersson cross that had beaten the
Chelsea defence all up. Soon after Wim Jonk's shot cannoned off French defender Marcel Desailly, after Barry Horne
had played a good ball into the box.
Wednesday were rightly disapointed not to have been awarded a penalty during the first half, as referee Paul Durkin
failed to spot two incidents. Both involved Desailly, who firstly handled the ball inside the box, and then clumsily barelled
over Booth. Neither was given and the sides went into the break with the scores still tied at 0-0.
Half-time: Owls 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli, no doubt concerned that his players hadn't troubled Owls keeper Kevin Pressman once
during the opening period, made a couple of changes to start the second half. However, Chelsea's fresh faces couldn't
prevent Wednesday taking the lead just five minutes after the break. Booth's quick thinking set up the goal, as he sent De
Bilde through on goal. The Belgian was too quick for Emerson Thome, the former Owls defender who was cheered by
the crowd when running onto the field, and rounded Ed de Goey before the Blues keeper brought him down.
Everyone expected the Chelsea shot stopper to be given his order to take an early bath, but in disgust to the home crowd
referee Durkin produced only a yellow card. Luckily for Wednesday it didn't affect the later outcome of the game, and Wim
Jonk stroked the ball home to make it 1-0.
Moments later it could've easily been two for Wednesday. This time Owls skipper Peter Atherton managed to get a
cross in right from the touch line, but an off balance Andy Booth couldn't power his goal bound header enough.
After this Chelsea had a string of chances in quick succession. Firstly former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah
showed a glimpse of his class, as he swivelled on the ball and fired a 25-yard shot that hit the base of Wednesday's
post. Then Weah again was in the thick of the action as his shot rebounded off Pressman and fell to Italian Gabriele
Ambrosetti, whose shot was blocked to safety by Steven Haslam.
In what was affectively their final chance of the game from here on in, Gustavo Poyet fired a long range shot that almost
caught Pressman unaware. But the Wednesday keeper just managed to get his fingertips to it and divert it wide. The
Owls then held on to record their second successive league win, and only their seventh of the season. Even more
amazing is the fact that this result takes the Owls to 18th in the table, their highest league placing of the season!
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De Goey