Wednesday had the better of the play for much of this game and with more clinical finishing would have won it comfortably, but Eliezer Mayenda took his chances very well. I was pleased that we were able to manage the final stages calmly to see the game out.
BEFORE
Changes will definitely be in the offing for tonight's game as apart from the serious injuries to Ballard and Le Fee the whole side needs a good shake up. They looked well below par against Hull and we need some fresher blood to add some much-needed vim. I think Patto will step down for a game or two and Browne, who'd looked safe enough when I saw him, will replace him. Mundle will surely start and with Watson not far off coming back too they've recovered at the right time. Moore and Aleksic may also start. Like many others have said, I'd like to see Mayenda and Isidor attacking together for most if not all of the game. Wednesday are comfortably mid-table but they're on a bad run, losing three out of their last four matches. This game will be Luke O'Nien's three hundredth appearance for us so let's hope it's a double celebration. I'll be watching the game again in the company of other members of the SAFCSA London Branch and I think we're going to win. Match prediction: 3-1 to us.
I got to the bar around 7.15 and on checking the team-news I saw that there were five changes from last time out. Patto was still starting but in addition to Ballard and Le Fee being injured, Cirkin, Rigg and Isidor were on the bench. In their places were Mepham. Hjelde, Browne, Mundle and Mayenda. Seelt was also back on the bench. Well, Le Bris had certainly shaken things up so we’d have to see if it worked out.
THE MATCH
‘The Heat is On’ was playing over the bar P.A. as we kicked off. Wednesday did most of the early pressing and it only took a couple of minutes for O’Nien to get into a bit of a discussion with Gassama. Perhaps the latter was congratulating him on his three hundredth appearance… Wednesday were zipping forward and together with Ingelsson long throws they were clearly going to be an attacking threat. In the tenth minute we survived a double penalty shout for handball and a foul, and next thing Gassama skied a really good chance. We won our first corner in the thirteenth but O’Nien’s flick went for a goal-kick. Next thing Mayenda got a shot on target that Beadle in goal made hard work of so things were looking up a bit. Wednesday were soon back racing onwards our goal at an alarming speed and Windass hit a good chance well wide. We got our second corner in the nineteenth but it was hit low and was cleared by the first defender. We won another shortly afterwards and Beadle knocked it out for a corner at the other end. Mundle was getting clattered quite regularly but from the latest clattering we steered the free-kick back into our half instead of going forwards.
We were clocking up the corners but still couldn’t make anything from one while Wednesday were creating much better chances than us but hitting them well wide or over the bar. We conceded our second corner on the half-hour and Paterson got a header on target that Patto dived to his right to save. The game was going from end to end but we were being marked very closely and were finding it hard to put together any flowing moves. In the thirty-fourth we suddenly took the lead when Mayenda ran onto a long punt and hit a bouncing effort that moved tantalizingly into the net as a defender arrived just too late to scoop it out. It had looked a bit of a lucky one but the replay showed it to be much better than it had seemed as Mayenda had controlled the ball well before fending off Lowe and the advancing Beadle. Later replays showed that the ball had bounced off Mayenda’s left arm before he scored but nobody appealed and it didn’t look intentional to me (honest). Lowe was injured and there was a lengthy hold-up before he was replaced by Palmer in the forty-second. There was bound to be a good deal of added-time and six minutes were duly announced. Wednesday put a fair bit of pressure on but we held out comfortably enough and it remained 1-0 as the half-time whistle went. If Wednesday had finished better we would have been 3-1 down but as things stood we were ahead and I was of course happy with that.
A minute or so into the second period we conceded a corner that we managed to clear but next thing Wednesday were level. We lost the ball on our right and when a cross came over, Paterson had time and space to nod a header past Patto from close range. In the fifty-first we again lost the ball on our right and Patto made a great save from a powerful Ingelsson shot. Wednesday were finding the target and that was worrying. Paterson was down injured for a while and he was eventually replaced by Ugbo. So, again there was going to be a good deal of added-time. When play resumed, Jobe had a good chance but he stroked his shot over the bar. Just on the hour-mark Patto dived well to grab the ball after we’d conceded a free-kick in a dangerous spot. With half an hour to go my 3-1 prediction was looking very much on the optimistic side but we hadn’t made any changes yet and surely Isidor had to come on before long.
Wednesday had definitely had the better of things in this half but we finally won a corner in the seventieth. As usual, though, we couldn’t create anything from it. Next thing we were 2-1 up. A high cross from Hume on the right found Mayenda running in behind Ihiekwe to head powerfully between Beadle and his right post. Mayenda raced towards our fans and was subsequently booked for his celebrations. We then brought on Isidor for Browne who’d had a good runout on his return. Maybe my 3-1 wasn’t looking so daft after all? There was still a long way to go. In the eighty-second we were awarded a free-kick right on the edge of their box when Mundle was brought down and Beadle did well to punch away Mundle’s well-taken kick and to clear a follow-up shot. In the eighty-sixth we brought on Rigg and Cirkin for Mundle and Roberts just after the Owls had made three changes themselves. In the eighty-ninth Patto held a shot from Gassama and soon seven minutes of added-time were announced. I adjourned to the Gents to don my brown trousers. Three minutes in, we brought on Jones for Mayenda and I have to say I hadn’t seen the lad before. We managed to see the game out well, keeping our cool and holding on to the ball, and it ended 2-1 to us.
