Battling Hornets hold Owls at Hillsborough
Owls fans were left banging their heads against the wall after another dissapointing result for the men in blue and white - this time a 2-2 draw at home to fellow strugglers Watford was the cause for headaches.
Belgian forward Gilles de Bilde continued to impress, with two second half goals that helped the Owls avoid an embarassing home loss to a side having come off a 5-game losing streak. The positive to come out of it is that it's another point to the (rather low) total and the fact that the Owls did infact come from behind twice in the match to salvage a draw. It certainly wasn't what manager Danny Wilson would've wanted - a win would've been an early Christmas present for him. Indeed, this was Wednesday's last home game until after Christmas day.
In that time they will face some tricky away matches - and no doubt will look back on this match as one that needed to be won. Despite encouraging recent form for Wednesday - it was Watford that came out the more confident of the sides, and early on saw Zimbabwean Michael Ngonge causing the Owls' defence all sorts of problems.
It was Watford that almost deservedly took the lead on 21 minutes as a long ball was flicked on to Ngonge who, after a neat one-two with Charlie Miller, slipped the ball past the re-called Kevin Pressman to send a chorus of moans and groans from a relatively small Hillsborough turnout.
Wednesday were given their wake up call after going behind but yet for the remainder of the first half never quite looked like scoring. There were promising signs down the left flank - but the finishing was somewhat dire and the Owls faithful left wondering if infact today would be the day they would break their 3-game goal drought. An error at the back for the Hornets let in De Bilde, who spotted a vacant Andy Booth in the penalty box - but the big Yorkshireman wasted the chance.
The next Wednesday chance fell to Danny Sonner - his powering header well tipped over the bar by Watford keeper Alec Chamberlain, after a well delivered Petter Rudi cross.
Half-time: Owls 0-1 Watford
The second half began with again the Owls frustrated in the final third of the field. De Bilde again in the thick of the action when his effort was saved, a chance he really should've put away. A minute later he had a chance to make amends - the referee awarded Wednesday a penalty after James Panayi appeared to handle the ball in the box. De Bilde stepped up and made no mistake. 1-1.
Perhaps mistaken in thinking the hard work was over with - the Owls defence was caught napping just three minutes later as Robert Page restored Watford's lead with a back-post header from a Ngonge free-kick. The Hornets' players were lining up to score but it was Page who got there first.
As the match went on there was just the feeling that despite having all the play the Owls were going to loose out in the end. Some of the Hillsborough faithful turned out to be not so - as they began to leave in numbers towards the end. But with 12 minutes remaining it was that man De Bilde on hand yet again to be in the right place at the right time to steal Wednesday's equaliser.
It wasn't the inspiring performance we'd all been looking for - and a definite lack of confidence seems to have spread through the club. Wilson has told the players that now is the time to deliver - as every week goes by catch-up points are being lost and there's the danger that the Owls will be left behind at the foot of the table.
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