Sport

Clarke double gives Wednesday win

By Matt Duncan
Published: 06/03/2010

Leon Clarke’s brace ended Sheffield Wednesday’s recent poor run but failed to lift them out of the Championship relegation zone.

In a display much improved from last week’s drubbing at the hands of Reading, The Owls held off in form Leicester.

However, results elsewhere meant that they stayed in the bottom three with 12 games to go.

Manager Alan Irvine said: “It was a great response to what was a very poor performance last week. It was the kind of response that we've talked about all week and it was a response that we hoped we were going to get.”

Wednesday started much the brighter and went ahead after just five minutes. Clarke collected Marcus Tudgay’s flick on and hammered home from 16 yards out for his fourth goal of the season.

The Hillsborough faithful were ecstatic with the start and as the team looked to attack at every opportunity, the noise levels continued to rise.

Despite a lot of possession and territory, Wednesday could not find a second goal and as the half wore on; Leicester began to look more assured and started to create chances of their own.

Lee Clark twice denied Martyn Waghorn, first smothering his header before excellently tipping the strikers powerful volley round the post.

For Wednesday, Jermaine Johnson looked lively on his return from injury but was unable to combine his electrifying pace with an end product of any sort.

On the half hour Leicester were forced into a change. Keeper Weale collided with Tudgay and ended up with a cut nose. He was forced to leave the field to receive treatment and was replaced by youngster Conrad Logan.

The second half started in a similarly energetic fashion with both sides getting the ball forward quickly, with little time spent in the middle of the park.

Johnson finally managed to get away a decent shot only to see it tipped round the post by Logan.

Wednesday continued to create the better chances and they appeared more solid at the back after the break, limiting the visitors to very few openings.

Wednesday doubled their lead on the hour, Clarke scoring his second. After Tudgay had set Johnson away on the right wing, the Jamaican centred the ball perfectly for the big front-man to fire home from inside the six yard box.

Leicester responded but found themselves denied by yet more top class goalkeeping from Grant. Lloyd Dyer raced through into the area but his left foot shot, destined for the top corner was somehow tipped over by the flying keeper.

The save symbolised the defiance which Irvine has instilled in this group of player since his arrival in January.

As the match moved towards its conclusion neither side looked overly likely to score.

Wednesday had a penalty appeal turned down after Varney claimed he was obstructed by Wayne Brown, whilst Waghorn was denied a clear shot at goal by a fantastic sliding block by recent Owls signing Eddie Nolan.

After the match Irvine was pleased with his team’s performance, especially in the second half.

“In the second half I felt that we were a bit more disciplined in the way that we closed our opponents down and we didn't concede so many free kicks. As a result of that we didn't find ourselves getting pinned back for any length of time.”

The moment that told you all you needed to know about this match was none of the goals or even the saves but a missed shot in injury time. Tudgay, collecting a long punt forward from Grant, controlled the ball on his chest 30 yards from goal, turned and hit an audacious dipping volley that sailed just wide of Logan’s goal.

Wednesday played with a sense of confidence, purpose and most importantly, belief. They will need them all if they are to pull away from the dreaded bottom three.

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