Derby defeat keeps Wednesday bottom
Things failed to get better for Wednesday, as they slumped to their fourth defeat in five games - and still no points taken from home games this season. It was also the fifth successive time the Owls have lost to Derby in the league.
It was an abysmal effort by Wednesday - who will be a certain for relegation this season if they perform so poorly, especially at home. Des Walker coming off after 14 minutes certainly won't have been a sight manager Danny Wilson would've like to seen. He was replaced by Sheffield born Jon Newsome who, despite strongly tipped to leave the Owls in the summer, is enjoying more and more first team football with Wednesday's early season injury problems.
Derby were the ones looking more likely to find the back of the net early on, Kevin Pressman keeping the score's level when he denied a Carbonari effort on six minutes. It was a Wednesday side who are obviously lacking in confidence at the moment, and their timid first half performance saw them lucky not to be down at the break.
Half-time: Owls 0-0 Derby
Danny Wilson has come under criticism this season over some of his tactical decisions, and bringing on youngster Richard Cresswell for Belgian Gilles de Bilde at half-time didn't seem to please the fans - who feel de Bilde is one of the few Wednesday players who looks like scoring at the moment.
The game's opening goal came ten minutes into the second period, when Owls' young defender Steven Haslam showed inexperience at this level by giving Derby's Rory Delap far too much time on the ball - and he fired a curling shot into the corner past a desperate dive by Pressman.
Derby's keeper Hoult had very little to do, but did keep out a good effort by Owls skipper Peter Atherton when the former Coventry man fired in from close range from a Petter Rudi cross.
With just 11 minutes left it was 2-0. Delap was once again involved in the action, this time his low drilled cross went straight through the Wednesday defence for sub Dean Sturridge to prod home.
The final ten minutes saw a chorus of boos and chants of 'What a load of rubbish' and 'Sack the board' - Wim Jonk limped off and so, because the three substitutes had already been used, the Owls played with ten men for the remainder of the game. It could've been worse for Wednesday too, when Mikkel Beck's last gasp header was denied a goal only by the goal-line heroics of Ian Nolan.
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