Can Laws inspire out of form Owls again

Last updated : 18 September 2009 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday go in to the Sheffield derby this evening in poor form having collected just one point from two home games in the past week. However, manager Brian Laws has enjoyed a good run of results in the steel city contest and the Owls can put a bad week behind them if they can find another result at Bramall Lane.

Since the Blades returned to the Championship in 2007 following their short unsuccessful spell in the Premier League they have been unable to overcome the Owls in four league meetings.

The 2007/08 season was a poor one for Wednesday as they only narrowly escaped relegation but the fans were able to take some solace from the derby results, with a 2-0 win at Hillsborough followed up with a 2-2 draw away, having been 2-0 up.

Last season saw the Owls win the first game of the campaign between the two sides 1-0 at home thanks to a goal from Steve Watson. A memorable derby double was completed in February with a 2-1 away win courtesy of strikes from Tommy Spurr and Marcus Tudgay.

It is often said that form goes out of the window where derby matches are concerned but if Wednesday are to get a result against their bitter rivals then they must certainly improve on their last two performances. A slow start against Forest gifted them the lead and a sloppy errors after a bright start against Middlesbrough saw the Owls punished.

The home crowd at Bramall Lane will see their team start as favourites in front of the Sky TV cameras and will be expecting their team to put an end to Wednesday’s recent derby dominance but if the Owls can get off to a strong start and frustrate their opponents and the crowd then it might yet prove to be a good end to what has been a fairly bad week so far.