Owls down Dons as de Bilde shines
 Wednesday 5-1 Wimbledon - by Anne Burkinshaw
It's taken ten games to come - but finally the Owls have recorded their first Premier League win of the season, as they comprehensively beat Wimbledon 5-1 infront of a small Hillsborough crowd on a sunny Saturday afternoon in South Yorkshire. The Owls welcomed back, as expected, key players in skipper Peter Atherton and Wim Jonk into their side, although there was no Benito Carbone who requested to be left out of the side, and their impact was almost instant as Wednesday took just nine minutes to open the scoring.
Dutch midfielder Wim Jonk celebrated his return to the side with a fine strike, that was Wednesday's first league goal in six games. It was a match that saw a fine team effort, but also a great individual performance by Belgian striker Gilles de Bilde who has shown signs of promise throughout the season without really delivering. It was he who setup Jonk's goal, after a brilliant run down the left wing he pulled the ball back for Jonk to fire the ball home from 12 yards on the penalty spot.
On 14 minutes it was 1-1 to the suprise of the home crowd - Egil Olsen's side replied quickly as a Marcus Gayle shot was heading wide of the Wednesda goal, until Welshman John Hartson stuck out a boot to guide the ball past Pavel Srnicek, who kept his place in the side ahead of the dropped Kevin Pressman.
The Owls took the lead again in the 23rd minute, when Jonk played role reversals in setting up de Bilde who was sent clear past the Dons' defence with just Neil Sullivan in the Wimbledon goal to beat. The former PSV Eindhoven frontman cooly tucked the ball home for his first league goal for the club, and put the Owls back in the lead.
It was de Bilde who continued to prove a menace for Wimbledon throughout the match, as he twice setup Andy Booth who failed to make the half-time scoreline much more emphatic than just 2-1. The Yorkshireman would've been disapointed not to have taken his chances and got on the scoresheet, in a game where everyone looked likely to score.
Half-time: Owls 2-1 Wimbledon
The second half started brightly for the Owls and the game was just about put beyond Wimbledon's reach when a third, which always looked like coming, was put in with just 20 minutes left on the clock. A Danny Sonner through ball was picked up by Norwegian Petter Rudi, who didn't crack under pressure in front of goal unlike on other occasions this season, who put the ball past Neil Sullivan for his first of the season.
The small crowd of just 18,000 were being entertained with Wednesday's finest performance of what has been a dismal season so far. With just eight minutes remaining de Bilde grabbed his much deserved second goal of the afternoon, when he displayed a variety of tricks around the Wimbledon box, leaving Jason Euell on the ground, before firing the ball just inside Sullivan's right hand post.
The scoring didn't quite stop there either, when Dutch substitute Gerald Sibon came on with just six minutes left, and scored Wednesday's fifth in the 88th minute. He tapped in simple chance from a great Rudi cross for his first goal for the club since his £2m move from Ajax in the summer. Wilson praised his brave troops after this one and admitted there is still a lot of hard work to be done, but Owls fans will be hoping this result is the turning point in the season.
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