Rubber Chicken’s Dojo

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.

sheffield wednesday lifted themselves to temporary safety with a midweek win over blackpool. james o’connor opened the scoring within three minutes while darren potter scored just after the interval.

this awesome pic is from the official swfc website… sweet

sheffield wednesday’s run of recent form hit a highflying speed bump over night with a 2-1 loss to promotion-hopefuls, nottingham forest. a dexter blackstock (cool name) double, including the winner ten minutes from time, was enough to see off the owls and dent their survival hopes.

with an uneventful first quarter, blackstock opened the scoring from the penalty spot after darren pooter, for reasons beyond all sanity, raised his arm to black a shot from the aforementioned blackstock.

the rest of the first half was forest putting pressure on the owls’ defence, steadfastly held by lee grant. at the other end, the other lee, forest’s keeper, lee camp, was hardly troubled by attempts by tom soares and tommy spurr.

a scrappy second half saw wednesday score a scrappy goal as the in-form luke varney slotted home a etienne esajas cross to level the scores. it didn’t last long though as blackstock finished off a parry by grant to put forest back in front for good.

the loss brings wednesday back towards the relegation zone as some other results did not go their way. nottingham forest, at the other end, are now one point away from automatic promotion.

sheffield wednesday rebounded from a midweek blip against scunthorpe ( 2-0 loss) to go back to their 2-1 winning ways versus plymouth argyle. all the goals were scored in the first half as both teams were determined to lift themselves from the relegation battle.

new zealand striker, rory fallon, nodded home to open the scoring on 24 minutes. [aside] should be interesting to see how fallon goes in south africa this year. big fella might attract some attention from bigger clubs.

within a minute of argyle going ahead, luke varney poked home a marcus tudgay through ball to level the scores. it was varney’s first goal since re-signing with the owls on loan from derby county. [aside #2] it’s his sixth spell on loan with sheffield. why don’t they just buy him already?

varney doubled his tally three minutes before the break and it proved to be the game winner. tommy spurr, whose throw-in lead to the first goal, played the ball down the line to tudgay. he headed it down to varney who found some space as the argyle defence stayed off him. varney slotted it home at the far post to finish the scoring.

the second half lacked any decisive chances. plymouth tried to push forward but lacked creativity and finish.

while plymouth gets further mired in the relegation zone, the owls’ win lifts them to 19th on the table. they are five points ahead of the highest relegation position but the teams below them have games in hand. the positive football has to continue for safety to be certain.

sheffield wednesday have hit their usual new year purple patch, right when i don’t have interwebs coverage. as such, they’ve clawed their way out of the relegation zone and, relative, safety.

the owls now find themselves on a three game winning steak. all three games ended 2-1 against barnsley, blackpool and, most recently, peterborough. new coach alan irvine must be saying the right things in the dressing room. marcus tudgay (both against peterborough) has scored two of the six goals, while luke varney, while scoreless, has been playing well.  meanwhile, premiership target, lee grant, has been playing the house down at the other end, ably supported by the four in front of him.

let’s hope this miracle continues.

sheffield wednesday have confirmed that former preston north end manager, alan irvine, has been appointed their new manager. he has signed a three and a half year contract, meaning he’ll only last two.

irvine was controversially sacked from his former club this year, having guided preston to the playoffs last season. he had been there for just over two years.

former england striker, alan shearer, has been linked and consequently denied taking over the vacant manager’s seat at sheffield wednesday. the manager-less owls have not been faring too well so it comes as no surprise that he does not want to get on that ship. it was theorised that he would take over only if his good friend, gary speed, was his assistant. more on the story from the bbc.

sheffield wednesday continued their sucky season as they succumbed to a much more committed crystal palace and were bounced out at the first hurdle in front of their smallest attendance of the year. even though the score was 2-1, wednesday were not only not even close in this one, they didn’t even score their goal. meaning the goals against newcastle last week have been the only ones scored since november.

i guess now they can concentrate on not blowing so hard in the championship division.

sheffield wednesday scored their first goals since november 7 and got their first point in 10 games as they shared the spoils with newcastle united in their boxing day clash. wednesday were unbeaten in their last five boxing day fixtures while united were undefeated in their last four.

the game started at a frenetic pace. the owls changed to q 4-3-3 formation from the side that lost to swansea last time out. it paid dividends as luke varney scored an early goal on 14 minutes, giving wednesday their first lead since october. varney heading home a chipped james o’connor cross.

promotion-hopefuls, newcastle, quickly hit back though. five minutes after varney’s goal, kevin nolan hit back, then shola ameobi scored three minutes later to make it 2-1. both sides pushed forward looking for more goals and the game settled into a more fluctuating rhythm.

wednesday pulled level on the hour as new boy, o’connor, drilled home a finish after varney hit the crossbar with a header.

the draw has hardly slowed the magpie juggernaut as it looks to bounce back into the premier league after just one season. at the other end, the point moves sheffield wednesday to within two point of safety. the worrying aspect being that the surrounding teams all have a game to come.