Every game is important but there's something about tonight's clash that has greater significance. I expected us to win at Donny but Wednesday will be another thing altogether as the defeat they handed out to us at their place showed. They're on the fringe of the promotion race and are undefeated in their last five matches. If we can beat them, it'll be a real marker that we're going places at last and of course we'll be top of the league. It's not clear at this early hour whether Winchester will be available but we'll need our best players. I was pleased that Wycombe lost last night but Oxford are sneaking up again to haunt us. I'll be at the game and I think it's going to be a cracker especially with nearly three thousand away fans there too. My match prediction is 2-1 to us.
I got the team-news as I was enjoying a pre-match Peroni in Fitzie's and Winchester was nowhere to be seen. It looked to be the same starting side as Monday. We left early in order to be get a good place in the queue for the Covid security checks but that proved to be very speedy and I was in my seat in the lower west stand at 7.25. It’d been drizzling and it continued to do so. It was good to hear the ‘Z Cars’ theme playing again.
I’ve always enjoyed the one minute's silence/applause before the last home game of the year and I thought of my great friend Gary Whan, who died in January this year. He'd become disaffected with football of late but his favourite ever match was the F.A. Cup replay against Man City at Roker Park in 1973 where packets of fags in pockets were squashed flat. Anyway, the final few seconds of the applause exploded into, “Haway the Lads!” We kicked off attacking the Roker End.
In the third minute we conceded a free-kick and one of their players was down injured for a while before it could be taken but we cleared the danger. Wednesday looked like they meant business from the off and Hoffmann had to make a save of sorts in the eighth minute. They’d certainly started better than we had but we were defending stoutly at any rate. We took the lead in the twelfth minute when a great low pass from Dajaku found the onrunning Stewart and under pressure from defenders he slotted it past Peacock-Farrell in goal. Wednesday appealed for offside but he’d timed his run well and the goal stood. Wednesday soon won the first corner but it was headed over for a goal-kick. We’d got our mojo working by the quarter-hour mark and were putting together a few tasty attacks but five minutes later one of our players put a clearance from the touchline into our box and I thought we were going to concede but the ref blew for offside. Neil was yellow-carded for a full-blooded tackle but he received a consolatory chant in his honour. It was turning into a full-blooded encounter as I’d expected. We won our first corner after a Stewart run but couldn’t make it count.
The Owls brought on Brennan for the injured Dunkley after nearly half an hour. Shortly afterwards Gooch allowed Wednesday to press down our left and this resulted in Hoff having to take the sting out of their first real shot. In the thirty-sixth minute Stewart got his second and again it was down to great build-up work by Pritchard who put a low pass on a plate for him to beat the goalie once more. We almost had a third just after that but it bobbled over for a corner. When that corner came across, though, we did have our third as Boyle powered a header into the net with maybe a little bounce off a defender en route. My mate had predicted a 4-1 win when we were in Fitzie’s and he was looking good for it. We had Weds on the ropes as half-time approached and Peacock-Farrell had to punch clear as another corner steamed in. I welcomed the announcement of four minutes stoppage-time but Weds clearly didn’t.
As the whistle went there was great applause from our fans.
When we kicked off again, we hadn’t made any changes and I hoped we’d go for more goals. Wednesday were looking keener to the ball at first but we nearly had a fourth five minutes in when a good dribble and cross from Gooch on the left was headed goalwards by Stewart but the goalie made a good block. Two minutes later we conceded a corner and immediately another but we managed to relieve the pressure while our fans were in great voice. Gooch went down in their box, rather easily I have to say, and he was ticked off by the ref for mouthing off about it. Shortly before the hour-mark Stewart got his third and our fourth when he got on the end of a long cross from Wright on the right and powered a header into the net. Anyone for six? Not long afterwards Pritchard went of to a standing ovation as Cirkin came on to replace him. The Owls fans had gone well quiet and our fans chanted, “We’d forgot that you were here” followed by the obligatory, “Your support is fuckin’ shit.” We continued to have a go and I felt another goal coming. There was a bit of handbags that resulted in Embleton and Bannan being booked. Wednesday were still making the odd dangerous foray but we were coping at the back. Kimpioka replaced Neil with twenty mutes to go and received a chant of, “If Benjy scores, we’re on the pitch!” Well, we never did get round to doing that for Josie. We didn’t have to wait long for him to score as in the seventy-fifth minute he was lurking by the left post and slotted in a long Dajaku pass from a narrow angle. Nobody did get on the pitch by the way. Our fans were chanting, “Ole!” as we kept possession and next thing we brought on Alves for Dajaku. The attendance of 34,652 was announced and that was applauded too. Kimpioka was close to a second but the goalie turned his shot out for a corner and we kept at it till the final whistle. It ended 5-0 to great joy all round.
What a way to end the year, eh? This was a five star display just when we needed it. Best wishes for 2022 to you and our team and staff.
