Optimism was in the air in S6, following Sheffield Wednesday’s sacking of their manager, but the game showed their lack of forward threat is a constant.
However defensively there was massive improvements for the home side as they were able to diminish the threat of a plucky Huddersfield Town side.
With The Owls’ under-21 coach Neil Thompson taking over from Xisco, who led the side to their worst start in the clubs history, and was let go by owner Dejphon Chansiri, who was in attendance today.
Thompson decided to go with a side similar to the one which won them promotion from the third tier.
This meant that former Manchester United centre-back Di Shon Bernard was the sole player brought in this summer who cemented a spot in the starting 11 vs Huddersfield.
As for the away side, former Owls boss Darren Moore made three changes prior to his Hillsborough homecoming, after the away side suffered a three goal deficit to Birmingham City in the midweek.
Despite a poor start to the season, Wednesday started brightly getting a corner in the first three minutes, which resulted in Nicholls claiming it.
However, it did not take long for The Terriers to respond to Sheffield Wednesday’s early threats as they got a corner, after Bernard blocked the cross from Ruffels, which again came to nothing.
The home side continued their positive start, holding the majority of possession whilst looking dangerous on the attack; a sight that was unknown in the 23/24 season under Xisco.
Despite the start, it was Huddersfield’s Josh Koroma who had the best of the early chances, as a poor clearance from Cameron Dawson saw the ball fall to the number 10 who couldn’t strike the empty net with his looping shot.
As the away side grew into the game, they had another chance to open the scoreline as Jack Rudoni set his sights on a free-kick 20 yards from goal, however could only direct it towards the wall.
Darren Moore’s side did well to draw in the fouls from the Wednesday side, as they were awarded yet another freekick in a dangerous position on the 20-minute mark.
After a fairly tepid following few minutes, Michael Smith was able to direct an on-target, yet soft header towards Nicholls in the Huddersfield goal, which was easily dealt with.
Concern was shown to Callum Paterson after 30 minutes, who was down for several minutes after a head collision, but played on following treatment.
Just before half-time, the Terriers were up against it, after Wednesday found momentum and bombarded the away goal with attacks.
But despite the onslaught, the game remained 0-0, with Sheffield Wednesday caretaker boss Neil Thompson undoubtedly being the happier of the two managers in the dug-out.
Wednesday started the latter half as they meant to go on, with a Vaulks freekick in a dangerous area, of which the delivery only just managed to avoid Smith.
On 60 minutes, former Doncaster Rovers and Hull City attacker Mallik Wilks came on for Michael Smith, following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Former Owl Tom Lees also took to the pitch for Huddersfield, with an applause ringing around Hillsborough for the man who tallied just short of 300 games for the South Yorkshire outfit between 2014-21.
The home side were then given a golden opportunity to break the deadlock from a corner, with Paterson driving a close range shot that fell to him agonisingly wide.
After a poor start to the second half for Darren Moore’s side, he decided to throw the dice with a double substitution, bringing on Harrett and Wiles to replace Koroma and Wiles.
Since the change, frustration sank into the Wednesday faithful who still couldn’t find the net, alongside complaints from the Kop end on referee Matthew Donohue.
With 15 minutes of normal time to play, John Buckley came on to replace the bandaged Pattison.
But the changes did not affect the scoreline as of the 85th minute in front of the 26,025 strong Hillsborough crowd.
The first celebrations of the game came from the 2,416 Huddersfield faithful as the ball ended up in the back of the net, but was chalked off seconds later following a collision with the keeper.
The following six minutes saw very little action and meant that Sheffield Wednesday continued their worst ever start to a season, however managed to pick up a needed point and clean sheet.