Wednesday on Tuesday

By: Andrew Doherty
Date: 27/08/2024

JUST as Thursday was last week's Saturday, now Tuesday sees the visit of Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup to Blundell Park. There are rewards for winning so I did agree with Mr Artell's comment that this game wasn't a free hit, although Wednesday were clear favourites to win.

The game was spiced up by the visit of a team from loosely up the road. It's been a while since we played Wednesday but I remember games in the late 70s and early 80s being feisty affairs. All we can do is our best, and hopefully the preparation and mentality were going to be right for that to happen.

Town's team this evening in front of 6,364 supporters, 1,590 following Wednesday, was: Eastwood - Warren, Rodgers, McJannet, Hume - Svanthorsson, McEachren, Green, Khouri, Vernam - Rose. Wednesday, in striking salmon pink shirts, made a job lot of changes since their last league fixture. Town attacked the Osmond end for the first half. Wednesday started by passing and playing tight at the back in a way that would have been disastrous had Town tried this. Neat work by Kobacki led to a cross which McJannet clears with his head, conceding a corner. Chalobah earned another before Town cleared the threat. 10 minutes had passed. The fare so far was pedestrian and poor. On 11 minutes Rose found space and earned a corner. Hum's cross landed in a dangerous area. The ball came out to Svanthórsson whose header was wide. Town won a free kick moments later, resulting in a nice move and pass from to Khouri to Vernam who rushed his shot. Excitement was lacking for the sullen crowd. Town won a throw deep in Wednesday territory. Svanthórsson wriggled through and found Khouri whose shot was deflected for a corner. 17 minutes had passed. Hume delivered. McJannet muscled in between two defenders and backflicked the ball home with his head. Town 1, Wednesday 0. Wednesday responded and Warren almost put the ball into his own net when blocking a cross. Town had an opportunity on 23 minutes when Wednesday keeper Charles was almost caught in possession as he tried to dribble the ball out, but Rose was adjudged to have fouled him. So far Wednesday's attacks ended with poor shots or solid defending. Great work by Svanthórsson saw a Town attack but McEachren wasted the opportunity with a poor ball. Wednesday we're having most of the ball but doing nothing with it. Town were winning important balls and playing reasonably well. Town attacked on 39 minutes. A great cross by Warren led to a header by Green which rebounded off the bar. Warren followed up with another cross. Khouri received but his accurate shot was saved by Charles. Wednesday had a late corner but nothing came if it. 1 - 0 to Town at half-time. Although Wednesday had more of the ball, Town defended well, were the only side to have shots on target, looked the more enterprising and were deserving of the lead. This was good but surely Wednesday were going to improve.

Unsurprisingly, Wednesday made a couple of changes for the second half. They had a scare when Charles struggled to clear in the face of a determined effort to close him down. The clearance led to a corner following a counter-attack which Town dealt with comfortably. The introduction of Pol Valentin for Wednesday paid dividends in the 52nd minute when his surging run up the right found Ugbo who slotted home. 1-1. A minute later Ugbo was the provider as Wednesday moved up quickly. Wednesday's other substitute Lowe was on hand to lift the ball over Eastwood. Town 1, Wednesday 2. It had all changed inside 60 seconds as Wednesday showed their quality at last. Eastwood saved the day a couple of minutes later as Wednesday came forward again as they threatened to overwhelm Town. On 58 minutes Barrington replaced Green. Great work in midfield by McEachren to win the ball led to a Town attack but the ever- frustrating Vernam once again failed to bring the ball under control and scooped the ball into the Pontoon stand. Wednesday made more changes to increase the energy level. The dangerous Pol Valentin won a corner on 63 minutes. The move ended with an offside. Eastwood made a brave save from the advancing Patterson on 65 minutes. At this point Wilson and Ainley replaced Rose and Svanthórsson. Khouri went on a run but was tripped by Windass who received a yellow card. Wednesday took control and won a corner. Then on 72 minutes a threaded ball from Bannan to Johnson saw an accurate pass to Patterson who passed the ball into the net. Town 1, Wednesday 3. Carson and Gardner now came on for Hume and Vernam. Kobacki then went close as Wednesday threatened to turn this into a rout. Palmer was then fouled, resulting a spat with a supporter in the Lower stand. Wednesday won a corner on 79 minutes. Bannan received the ball from it and supplied Kobacki whose inch-perfect cross from the left found Patterson's head. It was the easiest of headers and Patterson made no mistake. Town 1. Wednesday 4. Town had an attacking spell as the game neared its end and won two corners, followed by a through ball to Wilson which Bernard cleared for a further corner. But it was Wednesday who had the final say when a terrific passing move took them forward. Bannan found Pol Valentin on the right edge of the box. Pol Valentin drilled his low shot across into the left corner. Grimsby Town 1, Sheffield Wednesday 5 was how it ended.

Wednesday showed their class in the second half as they brought on their established players. The gulf in quality quickly became apparent. I don't however see this game as having any bearing on our league form or on team confidence. Town's first half was cause for encouragement. We looked for the most part composed and balanced, and the system worked well with Warren and Hume at full back, and Khouri reverting to midfield. So the Carabao adventure is over but although we were well beaten in the end, it was far from hopeless where Town were concerned as we were at least able to showcase some of our own qualities for a period of the game and hopefully we can learn from that.

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