Skipper's goal enough to beat Boro
A 28th minute header from Owls' skipper Peter Atherton gave Wednesday only their second league win of
the season and gave the club a much needed massive boost, as they won their battle over Boro on Boxing
Day. With other results involving fellow struggling teams, like Watford, Derby County, Bradford City and
Southampton, going Wednesday's way it's something of a late Christmas present for manager Danny Wilson.
It's the kind of result that could set the Owls off on their comeback trail in their relegation fight - and with a run
of home games coming up it could be make or break time for Wilson and his players.
They knew the importance
of winning this one and came up trumps.
The final scoreline of 1-0 probably didn't reflect how the game went - with the Owls wasting a number of
chances early on and could have easily found themselves three or four goals up. Instead they allowed Boro
back into the game later on, but managed to hold onto their narrow lead.
The starting line-up was a somewhat weaker one to the usual set of 11 players that take to the field. Ofcourse there was no Emerson
Thome at the heart of Wednesday's defence, following the Brazilian's £2.6M move to Chelsea this week, but he was replaced by
captain Atherton. The Owls were also without Norwegian Petter Rudi who was replaced by impressive youngster Mark McKeever
in midfield. However there was a return to the side for the injury ridden left-back Andy Hinchcliffe.
The game did take a while to take-off with the first real chance of the game not coming until the 23rd minute when Andy Booth's
header was pushed away by Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer after Swede Niclas Alexandersson had sent over an accurate cross.
The Boro defence then struggled to clear the ball as Bryan Robson's side looked uneasy at the back early on.
Alexandersson himself went close to scoring soon after with a header of his own - followed by Andy Hinchcliffe's well struck free-kick
that Schwarzer managed to save. It was a save that denied the former England man his first goal of the season. Atherton's first goal of
the season, and only his 9th in some 230 appearances for the club, came again from the pinpoint accuracy of Alexandersson on that
right-wing, as Atherton got to the ball first and fired in the ball at near post with his head.
Wednesday went in at the break 1-0 up but knowing well that it could have easily been more and no doubt remembering the numerous
times this season that they've lost the lead and ended up with nothing for their troubles. There was no denying that Boro had been poor
during that first half with their only real effort on goal being a long range effort from their little Brazilian star Juninho just before the
half-time whistle went.
Half-time: Owls 1-0 Middlesbrough
While Robson brought on the highly rated Marinelli, dubbed the 'new Maradonna', for the start of the second half - but the 17 year old
was to have no impact on the match whatsoever. The start of the second half saw the Owls once again waste further chances. First
of all Wim Jonk and Andy Booth combined before the big Yorkshireman softly headed the ball straight into the hands of Schwarzer.
Then, Jonk himself had a golden chance to extend Wednesday's lead. The Dutchman ran straight through a desperate Boro defence
before rounding the keeper and fooling everybody, including Booth, by passing and not shooting by which time the opportunity was
gone.
Boro's Assistant-manager and ex-Owl Viv Anderson would have been pleased with the way his side fought back into the match but
had his head in his hands when their best player wasted their best chance of the match shortly after Jonk's mixup. Neil Maddison
picked out the unmarked Juninho on the penalty spot before the little man somehow sliced his effort wide of the goal, as a sigh of relief
went around the 28,000 Hillsborough crowd.
The final 15 minutes or so of the game suprisingly went Wednesday's way as they fought of the weak Boro attempts to get something
from the game. Jonk again was a culprit of wasting a chance, despite his shot going only inches wide of the goal. Belgian striker Gilles
de Bilde missed from almost the same spot minutes later following some great work from Mark McKeever, who on this performance
could be seeing more first team action in the future.
The final whistle blew and the cheer echoed around the ground as the Owls secured three precious Premier League points. Wilson
after the game highly praised the goal and allround inspiration of Wednesday captain Peter Atherton - but as to whether or not they can
turn this win into a run of good form is yet to be seen.
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