Rubber Chicken’s Dojo

ex-liverpool player, neil mellor, struck a late equaliser as sheffield wednesday came back to draw away at colchester overnight. in front of just over 6000 fans, the game swayed back and forth in blustery conditions during the first half and only came to life in the second stanza.

five minutes after the restart, andy bond put the hosts in front with a thunderous 25 yarder that flew into the top corner of, owls keeper, nick weaver‘s goal. colchester pressed on but could find another goal.

mellor was brought on and with seven minutes remaining, the move proved decisive. he latched onto a knock back from mark beevers, controlling with his head, then firing home.

the draw puts the owls in 5th spot. hopefully, that will be a place they can improve on as the season progresses.

sheffield wednesday kicked off their league one campaign on a positive note with a 2 – 0 win over dagenham & redbridge at hillsborough. a crowd of over 23 000 had high hopes as dagenham opened the scoring on wednesday’s behalf thanks to an own goal.

two minutes later, clinton morrison scored his first goal of the season when he smashed home from six yards after a nod-down from chris sedgwick.

after the break, the daggers had a glut of possession but could not get passed keeper, nicky weaver (he’s no lee grant, yet). wednesday’s lack of penetration and creativity is worrying. hopefully someone will take the initiative in that department.

a win is a win!

copied and pasted from the bbc:

Burnley have signed Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Lee Grant on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

The 27-year-old, who played under Clarets boss Brian Laws at Hillsborough, had a loan spell at Turf Moor in 2005/06 but played just once.

He started his career at Derby, making 79 appearances and playing for England Under-21s, as well as having a loan spell at Oldham.

He joined the Owls in 2007 on a free transfer and made 145 appearances.

dangit..

league one club, sheffield wednesday, received a “winding-up order” which usually precedes a business going into administration. while having money troubles for some time, this action comes after a debt (about $1.3mill) was not paid. a good article about it can be read here. in the mean time, i’m off to find some money behind the couch so i can send it over to them.

sheffield wednesday lost its championship division status as it failed to gain the vital win against fellow struggler, crystal palace, drawing 2 – all overnight. the owls twice came back from a goal down to draw level but poor finishing doomed the blue and whites to third tier football… again. the irony is crystal palace are going into administration. they already lost 10 points this year for financial difficulties. they may not even reach next season. if that is the case, i think palace should swap places with wednesday so the owls are reinstated to the championship division.

leon clarke and darren purse both scored for wednesday, a goal in each half. i don’t want to talk about the game.

this offseason will be an interesting one. sheffield wednesday’s manager, alan irvine, has three players whose loan spells end this week, and up to eight players whose contracts expire as well. i would expect players such as luke varney, francis jeffers, etienne esajas, marcus tudgay and lee grant to move on. that’s so full of suck it hurts. grant will be sorely missed. tudgay and esajas also, while jeffers has struggled with injuries since his switch.

*sigh*

sheffield wednesday stand poised on the cusp of relegation after suffering a 3-2 defeat to cardiff city overnight. the loss means that a crystal palace victory tonight will condemn the owls to third tier football… again.

jermaine johnson opened the scoring for wednesday, tapping home from close range after some good work by tom soares. city levelled the score only two minutes later, the sheffield defense unable to contain the potent cardiff attack.

the half closed with lee grant stopping a point-blank shot to ensure the teams were locked at the break.

ten minutes into the second half, cardiff took the lead from jay bothroyd after he snuck the ball passed grant after a long through ball.

the owls were in disarray but marcus tudgay offered a lifeline with 13 minutes remaining after he finished from a tight angle after some good work by etienne asajas. however, four heart-breaking minutes later, cardiff re-took the lead when bothroyd smashed in his second. *sigh*

where did it all go wrong?

sheffield wednesday secured another salvation point while gathering their fifth draw in succession, coming from behind to level a 1 – all score line with queens park rangers at loftus road.

rangers went ahead just before the half hour before deciding to squander a handful of chances to put the game away. lee grant was his usual awesome best to deny the attacks, holding off qpr until the break. [aside: i hope grant is able to stay through the summer. there'll probably be some offers for him. let's just hope the owls can hang onto him for at least another year]

luke varney was proving ineffective up front, in search of his 50th league goal, and was replaced by jermaine johnson. johnson proved immediately effective as he provided the lead up to a cross that tommy soares nodded home at the far post. the precious point pulls the owls two points from the drop zone. all the teams around them have  a game in hand. gunna be close…

with crystal palace looming up from behind in the relegation zone, sheffield wednesday played out a snore draw with derby county at hillsborough overnight. despite having a clear cut chance in the very first minute, the owls could not muster any significant attack but were still able to hold off an unusually impotent derby side.

luke varney was unavailable for this match as derby county is his parent club, he is contractually obliged not to play against them. leon clarke started in his place with marcus tudgay. looks like we needed varney. lee grant wasn’t really troubled in the game, which is good. more support from the front would have been better too.

the draw still leaves wednesday one place from the drop zone, one point ahead of palace. the other two teams look certain to drop, the closest being six points adrift of the london club. palace have a game in hand. a win in their next match could lift the owls a few places. fingers crossed.

leon clarke scored a goal in each half as sheffield wednesday stunned promotion hopefuls, leceister city, 2-0 at hillsborough overnight. with nearly 22,000 people packed into the old stadium, the owls made a bid to escape the relegation zone, keeping the foxes at bay for most of the contest.

clarke opened the scoring with only six minutes gone. darren potter slipped in a through ball and clarke finished it with a smart drive into the top corner. clarke’s second came just after the hour. the striker finished a nice play that started with marcus tudgay and finished with jermaine johnson’s cross, neatly dispatched by clarke.

the win puts the owls in 22nd place, currently even with 21st-placed crystal palace. it’s the whopping minus- 17 goals against differential that is worrying. they need to start winning to reach safety.

the less said about about this game the better. the owls traveled to madejski stadium, trying to lift themselves from the relegation battle. However, five goals and insipid attack later, they limped out no better in their struggles than before the game.

they were able to hold out for almost the entire first half. but three minutes before half time, the dam broke, with jimmy kebe got his first of two goals for the day. the owls couldn’t staunch the flow and the goals kept coming after the break. gzregorz rasiak got one after the break, then simon church got his first. rasiak got his second, and kebe rounded off the scoring, completing his brace.

at least reading’s aussie keeper, adam federici, played well, coming away with a clean sheet.