Yesterday’s fixture was a physical battle, with title favourites Sheffield Wednesday overcoming playoff hopefuls Peterborough with a 1-0 victory at home.
Darren Moore decided to start the same lineup which defeated Charlton 1-0 at The Valley in their previous league game. Owls defender Reece James was expected to be back in the squad following a return from injury. But his manager confirmed at full-time that a stomach bug meant he was left out once again. Jaden Brown started in his place at the left-wing back position. Midfielder Marvin Johnson continued to serve his suspension and missed the game.
Meanwhile, Peterborough made three changes to the side that coincidentally also played Charlton in their last league game. The most notable change was the inclusion of Oliver Norburn in the starting XI. The midfielder made his first start for The Posh in 11 months after recovering from damage to his knee ligament sustained in a friendly he played for Grenada. Centre half Josh Knight missed the game through suspension after he picked up a red card in the previous match against Peterborough. Frankie Kent replaced Knight in Darren Ferguson’s side.
The match was dedicated to Elaine Murphy, and a touching round of applause echoed around Hillsborough before kickoff. The long-standing Sheffield Wednesday staff member who would have been celebrating her 78th birthday during the game died on New Years Eve.
“It wasn’t the prettiest in the first half,” exclaimed Owls manager Darren Moore, whose side was responsible for 11 of the 15 first-half fouls. The squad recieved two yellow cards in the first half, one for Aden Flint at the 34-minute mark, and just 5 minutes later, captain Barry Bannan received a booking. Both players were carded due to fouls committed on the 21-year-old Mason Burrows.
The first 45 minutes were somewhat difficult to watch, with the high frequencies of stoppages leaving little room for the game to flow. League One scoring leader and Peterborough striker Jonson Clarke-Harris struggled to make an impact on the game as a result. Clarke-Harris often found himself having to drop into deeper positions in a bid to help his side formulate an answer to Wednesday’s tough style of play.
“I thought we worked really well today in stopping the supply into him,” Darren Moore said after the game. Moore’s defensive game plan was centred around “condensing and closing down the space” where Peterborough looked to be in threatening areas.
Dominic Iorfa was a member of Wednesday’s back line, and he contributed a solid performance to his side:
“I don’t think they had a shot on target, which is [a]credit to the boys.”
The goalless first half did provide some excitement. The closest chance that those at Hillsborough witnessed in the first half was from a well-worked corner routine, which saw in-form striker Josh Windass break away from his marker and blast a shot at the crossbar. Windass went into the game with three goals in his last three appearances but failed to add to that record against The Posh.
Luckily for the fans, the second half hosted a much faster tempo to the game. Most of the action was in Wednesday’s attacking third, with frequent chances coming from the left-hand side. Dangerous crosses from Barry Bannan and Jaden Brown left the Peterborough players worried. One opportunity following from a Bannan cross resulted in Peterborough’s keeper Will Norris making a save on the line with his foot in the 50th minute.
A Sheffield Wednesday goal looked certain. In the 60th minute, Barry Bannan disguised a lovely through ball to Jaden Brown, who made an overlapping run on the left-hand side. Brown’s strike deflected off Peterborough’s right back Nathan Thompson and slid past Norris in goal. It was a bad day at the office for the right back Thompson, as he picked up a couple of knocks during the game, having rings run around him from the Wednesday forwards. Furthermore, the goal counted as his own goal.
Wednesday going 1-0 seemed to shatter the motivation and confidence of the Peterborough players. Darren Ferguson’s side tried to adopt a counter-attacking style in the last half an hour. But any attempt of moving the ball into their attacking third was caught out by the Owls’ back line. Notably, Posh winger Kwame Poku had a near-certain goal denied by a last-ditch tackle by Dominic Iorfa before being substituted in the 68th minute.
The game concluded with two more yellow cards in the 90th minute, one for Wednesday substitute Lee Gregory and another for Peterborough centre-back Ronnie Edwards. It was a more miserable fixture for Peterborough than when these two sides last faced each other. The Posh hosted Wednesday back in August, and memories of their 2-0 victory were not enough to rejuvenate the squad to bounce back from Thompson’s own goal.
As the minutes passed, the body language of Darren Ferguson’s side worsened. The second-half substitutes provided little freshness to the team as they continued to be manhandled by the Owls.
Sheffield Wednesday will play Portsmouth next, another team hopeful of finishing the season in the playoff positions as they sit level on points with Peterborough. “Going to Fratton Park is never easy” Darren Moore said as he looks forward to the fixture following this weekend’s result.