All hail King Charles – Sheffield Wednesday claim Leicester City point after goalkeeping heroics
Pierce Charles added further value to his growing price-tag as Sheffield Wednesday secured a hard-fought point against Leicester City.
They were so, so close to securing their first home victory of the campaign, but the spoils wouldn’t even have been shared if it wasn’t for the man between the sticks.
It took just over a minute for the Owls to break the deadlock. It was the second time that Wednesday had gone 1-0 up against the Foxes, and the hope was that this lead would last longer than the last one. They held on until the second half back in August, with the hosts going on to secure an 87th-minute winner on a noisy day the King Power Stadium.
That day was a big one for Wednesdayites… It was the first day of the season and protests against their under-fire chairman were rife. The home fans showed brilliant support for their Yorkshire counterparts in Leicestershire, and as a ‘Dejphon Chansiri Out’ flyer took place overhead, there was a sense of defiance in the air.
A lot has happened since then. We’ve had two preferred bidders, a truckload of misery and plenty of drama… The sense of defiance, however, has gone nowhere. The players continue to run themselves into the ground, and frankly it’s a surprise that the fans have got any voices left.
A noisy Hillsborough once more
They were at it again at Hillsborough, as the now familiar ‘Everywhere we go’ chant echoed around their blue and white home. On the pitch there were changes, with Nathaniel Chalobah coming into the XI, and Jamal Lowe returning after international duty – Jarvis Thornton and Charlie McNeill made way. Another swap saw Tayo Adaramola replace Sean Fusire.
Elsewhere, there was no place for Joel Ndala in the squad after it was noted that he didn’t partake in the shuttle runs post-Stoke City. There’s probably more to come on that front.
Spurred on by their home fans, Wednesday burst out of the blocks. Svante Ingelsson’s early corner caused havoc in the Leicester box, Gabriel Otegbayo nudged it goalwards and Jerry Yates was on hand to poke home. It wasn’t pretty, but who cares? 1-0.
Unsurprisingly it didn’t take long for the visitors to turn the tide. The Owls have spent plenty of the season with their backs against the wall, and this was to be no different. Abdul Fatawu fired wide a few minutes later, and Henrik Pedersen’s men had to strap themselves in.
There was space for Leicester, too. And if it wasn’t for the extremely talented youngster between the posts for the Owls, they’d have found a goal or two. His first stop – and his most impressive – showcased some incredible reflexes to keep out Oliver Skipp from close range… If he hadn’t got a hand on it, it was flying into the top corner.
The Northern Ireland international went on to keep out Stephy Mavididi and Luke Thomas, and thanks to him the hosts were able to go into the break with a rare lead.
Given the quality in their squad, Leicester are massively underachieving this season – points deduction or not. So it was always expected that they’d start to turn the screw as the game went on. It was Wednesday who started the second half better, though, with Liam Palmer breaking forward only to see his clipped cross-cum-shot go wide of the mark. One goal has never been enough, but as Jordan Ayew hit the post with a header there was a growing feeling of ‘Could this finally be the one?’ for the shirt-swinging home support.
73 minutes gone, and those hopes should’ve ended. Charles was at it again, though, making a brilliant double save as neither Stephy Mavididi nor Ricardo Pereira could find a way past him.
Palmer came off for Sean Fusire not long afterwards, following on from Olaf Kobacki’s arrival in place of Nathaniel Chalobah, but Gary Rowett’s men continued to turn the screw. A looping header hit the bar, but still the home side clung on.
With 10 minutes left to go, Pedersen dug into his bench once again. This time it was Thornton and McNeill who were introduced, with Jamal Lowe and Jerry Yates having run their race. Leicester’s substitutes had 557 Premier League appearances between them – Wednesday’s had none. Squeaky bum time, then
And then the inevitable came… It was Ayew who got it, firing a brilliant strike past Charles from range. A special strike was going to be needed to beat the Owls stopper, and the Ghanaian legend certainly found one as he struck low and hard into the bottom corner. 1-1, and the hosts had some defending to do.
Leicester kept knocking, and with eight minutes added would get another chance or two. Unfortunately for them, there was a 20-year-old who had no intentions of letting them find a winner. Mouths were agape as he flew through the air to stop Ayew from grabbing a second, and that was that.
Another point for Wednesday – up those -5 Owls. They still don’t know what’s happening next season, but they do know that – for now at least – they have a very good goalkeeper to call upon.
Thought Chalobah put in a very strong performance and we were weaker when he left the pitch. Word for Kobaki too, suddenly feeling quite excited about him after recent cameos either side of his injury recurrence. Great to have match reports back Joe!
He's not the finished article yet Joe, he needs to command his box more and learn to decide whether to catch or punch ( which he did better against Leicester yesterday afternoon I'll admit ) but a catch would have prevented Stokes second goal. Just hope we can keep hold of him.