Disaster struck for Sheffield Wednesday in the Steel City derby as neighbors Sheffield United visited Hillsborough and left with all three points after a 4-2 victory. In a game where many saw Wednesday as the favourites, the underdogs well and truly had their day thanks to a brace from former Owl Leon Clarke and goals from John Fleck and Mark Duffy. It was Wednesday’s first defeat since the opening day but can they bounce back after this latest setback?
United had opened the scoring after only a couple of minutes thanks to a well worked free kick on the edge of the Wednesday box. Then Leon Clarke slotted home after slack defensive work by The Owls and this was to be their undoing on another two occasions before the final whistle. In form Gary Hooper clawed Wednesday back into the game on the stroke of half time before Lucas Joao, introduced at the break, fired them level. United hit back immediately though and then things went from bad to worse as Clarke managed to somehow ease his way between Tom Lees and Joost van Aken before beating a helpless Keiren Westwood.
It was a horrendous afternoon for the blue half of Sheffield and the pressure has increased tenfold on Carlos Carvalhal and his charges. Prior to the derby, they had been on a 7 game unbeaten run in the league, winning two out of their last 3 games but it’s the way that they seemed to crumble after Fleck’s early goal that has caused many raised eyebrows. The question is can they get back on track immediately or will it take time for them to overcome this setback?
Wednesday, thankfully, have a chance to put things right at Birmingham City. Lee Carsley is in temporary charge at St Andrews after Harry Redknapp’s departure and that could be a blessing in disguise as The Owls look to bounce back immediately after their derby disaster. It will be a fiercely contested match, with sports bet operator Unibet having Birmingham 15/8 and Sheffield Wednesday 31/20 to win the game. Wednesday have always seemed to react well previously after a bad result and their fans, as well as head coach Carlos Carvalhal, will be expecting the same to happen once again. In fact, they’ll be demanding it to.
After the game at Birmingham, Wednesday are back at Hillsborough on Sunday for another big derby against Leeds United. Two wins from the next two games would certainly go some way in making up for such a poor display against Sheffield United and it’s something that you wouldn’t put past Wednesday going on to do. Their head coach, Carlos Carvalhal, was extremely passionate and relentless with the press in his pre Birmingham press conference and you’d expect that to have transmitted to the players as they look to right a few wrongs.
One thing’s for sure, when they’ve suffered setbacks previously, they have always come out fighting and got back on track very quickly. It’s a sign of a good side and it would certainly lift some of the pressure lift, especially if they manage to pick up maximum points from their next two fixtures.