A section of the home support aimed a slur at the midfielder, labelling him a sex offender. Bannan made sure to let the home end know about it after Josh Feeney’s own goal put Wednesday ahead.
And the veteran midfielder had the “last laugh” as he played a key role in Wednesday’s third straight away win - a result that lifted them to the top of League One.
Speaking after the match, Bannan admitted the abuse crossed the line. “It’s not nice,” he said. “If they’re singing normal songs, you don’t mind - but when they start singing what they were singing today, it’s not nice. It is what it is. It’s football, I guess.
“I’ve had the last laugh. We won and that’s why I gave them a bit back at the end. If it was normal songs, I wouldn’t have reacted, but when you’re a father with two kids and they start singing that, it’s quite offensive. There’s not much that can be done, I don’t think. As long as we win and I get my bit at the end, I’m happy.”
Bannan celebrated passionately with the 3,900 plus travelling Wednesdayites at the final whistle. “I was just praying we held out so I could get my own back at the end of the game,” he said. “It’s football. I’m not the best supported player away from home. Most grounds I go to I get a bit of stick but I like it. That’s football and it’s the sort of thing that keeps me going and keeps me thriving.”
“I was just praying we held out so I could get my own back at the end of the game.”
The match marked Wednesday’s first trip to the Weston Homes Stadium since May 2023 when they were thrashed 4-0 in the first leg of the play-off semi-final. Their promotion hopes looked shattered before the unforgettable comeback at Hillsborough.
Bannan insisted that history wasn’t on the players’ minds. “I’d forgotten about that because all I remember is the second leg,” said Bannan. “Everyone talks about the last time we came here. We lost the game before that as well and got a red card. Things like that come up when you play games like this, but it’s a completely different group. I think I was the only one today who started that first leg, so the lads didn’t really know about it.
“It’s a different team now. We didn’t think about previous games - we just came here to win.”
This article is available for free, but if you like what you’ve seen from The Wednesday Word, then a paid subscription would mean the world to us - and allow us to keep doing everything that we’re doing in the TWW universe. We want to keep improving, and growing, and for that we need your support! Thank you!