News
    General
    Transfers
    Rumours List
    St. James'

Archives
   Club History
    Articles
    Memories
    What happened to?
    1892-now

Club Info
    General
    Honours
    Records
    Kits

Sheffield Wednesday	0-2	Newcastle United
Half time:	0-1
Score Sheet:
		Jamie McClen (34) Daniel Cordone (71)
	Teams
Danny Trueman Ryan Jubb Derek Geary Greg Young Tony Crane Neil Gibson Alan Cawley Simon Donnelly Dene Cropper Jon Shaw Gary Woods	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Steve Harper Andy Griffin David Beharall Gary Caldwell Steve Caldwell Jamie McClen Diego Gavilan Cristian Bassedas Lomana LuaLua Daniel Cordone Stephen Glass
Substitutes:
Alex Callery for Geary (67) Adam Quinn for Crane (75)		Pablo Bonvin for LuaLua (76) Jamie Coppinger for Cordone (76) Stuart Green for Bassedas (84)
Subs not used:
Jamie Barrett Nicky Byne		Pedro Dimas Mark Boyd
Bookings:
None		None
Sendings Off:
None		None
Referee: G.Salisbury. Wore a day-glo orange bib along with his linesmen, hastily donned at kickoff time when it was realised that their shirts clashed with those of Newcastle. A vaguely surreal beginning, with the linesman especially looking like they were about to undertake their cycling proficiency test, but strangely enough as the gloom deepened and the floodlights came on, the vests made the officials stand out more - a new fashion perhaps ?
Attendance: approx 275. Full marks to Wednesday for opening the gates and allowing folk in for nowt and supplying teamsheets. This season at other away games, we've been stung for as much as £4 (Leeds), charged 20p for a teamsheet (Blackburn) and of course treated like cattle at the mackems, as usual.

34 mins  Bassedas brought the ball forward unopposed into the Wednesday half before releasing LuaLua, who swept past two players before neatly laying a short pass into the path of McClen. The United midfielder had time to take a touch of the ball before steadying himself and slotting home a low shot from 12 yards at the kop end of the ground.  1-0

Half time: Sheffield Weds 0 Newcastle 1

71 mins  Gary Caldwell brought the ball out of defence towards the United right before switching play with a long diagonal ball that fell perfectly for Glass near the corner flag on the opposite flank. He jinked past defender Jubb on the outside before homing in on goal and pulling the ball back to Cordone, who had the simple task of tapping home from inside the 6 yard box. 2-0

Full time: Sheffield Weds 0 Newcastle 2

Aside from the goals we completely dominated proceedings, winning 15 corners during the game, and keeper Steve Harper was reduced to the role of spectator, supplying a running commentary that echoed round the empty stands.

However, most of the Newcastle efforts passed wide, with keeper Trueman only forced to pull off two credible saves. The woodwork also saved him once, when LuaLua's bicycle kick rebounded clear on 3 minutes. The same player also saw a second-half shot cleared off the line by a defender, Gary Caldwell also suffering the same fate with a header.

Wednesday had a shot that drifted off target from Cropper after 5 minutes, and that was it for the home side as an attacking force. 

Owls reserve coach Martin Hodge (a former Wednesday keeper) commented:

"Again we put a very young team out and it is a big learning curve for the lads. Eight of the Newcastle squad had Premiership experience while, apart from Simon, Tony Crane and Derek Geary were our most experienced players. It was only after those three came off that they scored their second goal."

The strongest Newcastle reserve side in recent years was assembled for this game, and could hardly have asked for weaker opposition. Wednesday had only managed two draws from seventeen games in a wretched reserve season, and looked in disarray from front to back within minutes of the first whistle.

That Newcastle didn't get a cricket score in this game is as much due to the lack of cohesion shown by the team as any defensive quality from the Owls. We moved the ball about reasonably well, but failed to provide good deliveries for the front pair to work with, especially in the first half. Gavilan in particular seemed in a world of his own, and never made any worthwhile contribution to the cause, while when LuaLua remembered that he was allowed to pass the ball, he made an instant impact and set up the opener.

Rather strangely Cordone took most of the corners, driving them across in a curious arc that seemed to confuse both home and away players. The odd one or two that Glass took were more conventional and almost led to further goals, but what could have been a real turkey shoot never really got going - no boot-filling unfortunately. Maybe we felt sorry for them....

In case you think i'm being a little unfair on our lot, here's what the other visitors to Hillsborough have managed this season:

Man City 7, Villa 5, Blackburn 4, Liverpool 4, Leeds 3, Man Utd 3. However, only ourselves and Everton have kept a clean sheet (they also won 2-0), so maybe some credit should go to our defenders.

Wednesday face the mackems next week at the same venue. While obviously the Owls have our very best wishes in that one, it will be interesting to see whether the second-string from down the road rattle can better our tally.... 

PS - We've already mentioned the referee's vests, but staying with an undergarment theme, LuaLua stripped off his shirt after 14 minutes, removed his vest and then handed it to a clearly unimpressed Tommy Craig. 

Oh aye, and Wednesday were pants.

Biffa

Reserves