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Sheffield Wednesday	1 - 2	Newcastle United
Half time:	1 - 1
Score Sheet:
McClaren (21pen)		Ameobi (3) Ameobi (50)
	Teams
Chris Stringer Neil Gibson Greg Young Aaron Lescott Steve Harkness Paul McLaren Matthew Hamshaw Alan Cawley Tony Crane Michele Di Piedi Phil O'Donnell		Jon Brain David Cowan Wayne Quinn Ryan McGuffie Gary Caldwell Jamie McClen Brian Kerr Mark Boyd Shola Ameobi Colin McMenamin Olivier Bernard
Substitutes:
Craig Rand for Cawley (55) Laurie Wilson for McLaren (63) Adam Muller for Di Piedi		Coppinger for McMenamin (55)   Stuart Green for Mark Boyd (66) Pedro Dimas for Bernard (71)
Subs not used:
Adam Quinn Sean Roberts		Carl Bell Michael Chopra
Bookings:
n/a		n/a
Referee: KA Woolmer
Attendance:  Around 300.

3 mins see below 1-0 

21 mins  see below 1-1
 
Half time: Sheff Weds Reserves 1 Newcastle Reserves 1

50 mins see below  2-1 

Full time: Sheff Weds Reserves 1 Newcastle Reserves 2

Former Owl Tommy Craig commented:

"It was the first performance this season where we haven't really done ourselves justice in terms of the way we played.

"We didn't keep up the standard we have set this season, if we had played as well as we did in the defeat against Leeds, I think we would have won the game more comfortably."

TWO-goal Shola Ameobi earned United their third consecutive FA Premier Reserve League away win at Hillsborough.

United were ahead within three minutes of the kick-off when a Gary Caldwell through-ball cleared the home defence and, although looking offside, Ameobi was allowed to advance into the box and fire home with a low, 15-yard shot that went in via a post.

Despite United's domination, Wednesday drew level after 21 minutes thanks to another controversial decision.

There seemed no danger when a cross from the left struck Caldwell from close range.

However, the referee waved away protests and pointed to the spot for deliberate hand-ball.

Paul McLaren converted easily with a right-foot effort over Jonathan Brain.

To their credit, United redoubled their efforts in front of goal with both Ameobi and Olivier Bernard coming close.

Then, in the 32nd minute, a replica of the move which brought about the opening goal almost saw United regain the lead. This time Ameobi elected to cross from the right, but his pass was hacked clear by a defender with Bernard lurking.

After a quiet opening to the second half, it was Ameobi again who gave United the lead in the 50th minute.

Pressure from Newcastle down the left flank gained a corner, which Jamie McClen drove to the far post.

He found Ameobi six yards out and the striker guided his header back across goal and into the corner of the net.

The game then lost its rhythm as both sides made substitutions, but it was Wednesday who came closest to another goal.

First former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Phil O'Donnell found himself unmarked in front of goal, but he totally missed his kick. Then substitute Laurie Wilson headed narrowly wide after David Cowan, making his first start for the reserves this season in central defence, was forced to concede a corner.

Ameobi did have the ball in the net once more after 68 minutes but was denied a hat-trick by an offside flag.

Late attacks down the United left from Wayne Quinn and Ameobi caused the home side problems, but Chris Stringer in the Wednesday goal wasn't called into action.

Biffa (as it appeared in the Journal - an NUFC.com production)

Not in the paper:

Well, a win kept our away record going (now 5 consecutive league victories on the road) but there wasn't a great deal of skill or application on show from either set of players in a forgettable encounter.

Newcastle simply had to score a goal a two and condemn the Owls to another reserve defeat. They did that and just about got through the game without any problems, but that was as much due to the ineptness of the home side as our efforts.

Wayne Quinn in particular looked well off the pace in his second comeback game, and did little to impress any watching Nationwide scouts. Up front, the livewire Lua Lua wasn't picked, and his nuisance value was missed as we lacked an attacking focus. With McMenamin anonymous, when Shola did deign to get himself up front he helped himself to a couple of goals and looked as if he could beat the defence at will. 

However, too often he was to be found in anonymous deep positions, and it was left to the likes of McClen and Bernard to gallop upfield as we went on the offensive. They were able to do this as Wednesday showed virtually nothing in that area, and aside from the straggly-haired Carbone look-alike Di Piedi, struiggled to hang on to the ball in attacking positions. Even he seemed to have no idea about the offside rule and continually frustrated the small home crowd with his brainless moves.

Three subs for each team within a 16 minute period blew the second half off course somewhat and most of the entertainment was in the first 45 minutes. Our replacements did very little to warrant a recall to the starting XI next week at Bradford, but there again neither did many of those who started this game.

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