After a few rushed phone calls not long after the starting XIs were confirmed, I rushed into action after picking up a line that Wednesday were trying to wrap up a last-gasp deal to land David Keillor-Dunn from Wrexham… It meant that I actually missed the opening goal, live anyway.
Watching it back, though - it was a bad one. Gabriel Otegbayo - who replaced Ricardo Santos in the XI - didn’t deal well with a ball over the top, heading it straight to Cauley Woodrow, who managed to slot it past Joe Lumley to give the hosts a sixth-minute lead.
The reaction, however, was strong. It took the Owls just five minutes to get themselves level, showcasing some excellent football to break on the Chairboys at pace.
It started with Jamal Lowe, who poked the ball excellently to Barry Bannan. The man with the armband picked out a gorgeous outside-of-the-booter with his first touch, sending Louie Barry galloping down the pitch…
He found Mason Burstow, who fired towards the far post, and while Conor Hazard got down well to his right, Wednesday’s number 11 was on hand to tap it into an empty net. 1-1 with 11 minutes on the clock.
Barry’s joy was short-lived, though. Moments later, while bounding down the left side, he rolled his right ankle and looks immediately uncomfortable. The attacker had to be helped off the pitch and straight down the tunnel, with Kieran Morrison being called upon to replace him.
Reece James had a curling effort saved, Callum Slattery slammed a good effort into the side-netting, but it was Wycombe who were finished the half the strongest as the visitors missed the movement of Barry and had to withstand a fair bit of pressure from the home side. Thankfully, Lumley and the backline in front of him was up to everything that came their way.
But things changed as added time got underway. Wednesday found their feet a bit more, and started to probe the hosts’ defence more and more. They earned themselves a few corners, and the last one resulted in a little scramble in the box that saw Slattery’s legs clipped… Penalty Owls.
Bannan stepped up and held onto the ball as Wycombe got their complaints out of the way, before handing it to Lowe. His confidence will be sky high, and it showed in his spot kick as he fired it into the roof of the net to make it four goals in four League One games. 2-1 just before the break.
Tempers flared after the whistle after an incident involving Woodrow and Slattery, with the teams having to be separated and ushered down the tunnel. Wycombe really weren’t happy with the penalty decision.
There were no changes ahead of the second stanza, and Wednesday looked to pick up where they’d left off. They were bright out of the blocks, and there were some nice bits of interplay in their attempts to add to their lead.
Once more the pendulum swung, though. Michael Duff’s men started to take hold of the game again, and put serious pressure on the away defence. Reece James was strong again, and Yan Valery looked excellent down the right. Wycombe did have the ball in the net at one point, but were adjudged to have handled it beforehand… It should’ve been a foul on Valery, anyway.
Jaden Heskey was brought on for his second debut as Henrik Pedersen looked to shift the momentum - and it seemed to work. The Manchester City loanee helped calm things down, and shortly afterwards Wednesday’s right back drifted up the pitch and saw a wicked strike whistle past the post.
Billy Mitchell was fantastic in the middle of the park as he helped dictate play alongside Bannan, while big Liam Cooper was a rock at the back, winning almost as many aerials on his own as the whole Wycombe side.
But the home side weren’t done. Bannan joined Slattery in the book as they made a late push, and Connor Taylor should probably have evened things up. Cooper and the Owls captain made way shortly afterwards, managing their minutes as Ernie Weaver made his long-awaited return and Ali Al-Hamadi got another runout.
Weaver didn’t take long to get in on the action, either. Within minutes he was throwing himself into blocks and diving headers, doing everything on his first game back to make sure that three points would head back to Sheffield.
And so it came to pass. Excellent at points, scrapping and growling in others. In many ways a quintessential third-tier victory. Up those second-placed Owls.
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. Thank you!
These are the kind of wins you need in this league if you want to end it near the top
Love this, the players, HP and his Coaching Staff deserve a huge amount of credit alongside the Recruitment Team. Great to see Ernie Weaver feature as well 🦉