Sheffield Wednesday were handed a late lifeline for the second weekend in succession on Saturday but another 1-0 reverse left them deep in trouble in the bottom three in the Coca-Cola Championship.
A last minute goal from Chris Brunt for WBA prevented Watford from picking up maximum points in their battle for survival the previous week and this weekend Preston scored twice in the closing minutes to come from behind to beat Scunthorpe. Had either of these strugglers been able to hold onto three points in these matches then things would look far worse for Wednesday, as it is the picture is still far from rosy with those two teams having a game in hand and Crystal Palace facing a trip to Derby next weekend and a home game with the already promoted WBA to come before their visit to Hillsborough on the final day.
After back-to-back 1-0 defeats Wednesday can’t expect other results to keep going their way and they must turn things around, starting with the Sheffield derby at Hillsborough on Sunday if they are to avoid an unwanted return to the third tier of English football.
In truth the Owls may feel a little aggrieved to have come away from the Riverside Stadium with nothing on Saturday but it was a case of Groundhog Day in terms of recent performances. Early chances were missed and the Middlesbrough goal right on half-time was a devastating blow. The shot took a cruel deflection on its way past Lee Grant but it could have been prevented long before it got that far. Darren Potter took a free-kick on the edge of the ‘Boro area that amounted to little more than a pass back and within seconds the ball was in the Wednesday net. McDonald picked the ball up around the halfway line and was allowed to saunter forward for 25 yards unchallenged before releasing a speculative shot that wrong-footed Grant after a touch from Beevers.
Wednesday had plenty of the ball in the second half without doing enough to test Brad Jones to record their fifth blank in the last ten matches.
With three games to go, only two teams in the Championship have scored fewer goals than the Owls. None of the Wednesday forwards have managed to break into double figures of goals and the usual starters in midfield – Potter, O’Connor, Johnson and Soares – have only contributed eleven goals between them.