Varney secures vital victory

Last updated : 25 March 2010 By C. Morris

Luke Varney struck an 89th minute winner to give Sheffield Wednesday a 2-1 triumph over Watford at Hillsborough on Wednesday evening and as a result the Owls dragged a number of teams back into the battle to avoid the drop.

The previous evening Plymouth had given themselves renewed hope with a fine win at Ipswich and Scunthorpe had opened up a four point advantage over the Owls by beating Peterborough to record their second win within a week.

This result put added pressure on both Wednesday and Watford to get a positive result and in the first half this showed. Neither side managed to register a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes and the only moment worthy of note was an expertly taken free-kick from Darren Potter that clipped the wrong side of the post from the Owls perspective.

Despite the lacklustre first half the Hillsborough faithful got behind the team as they kicked towards the kop in the second half and were rewarded just over ten minutes in when full-back Eddie Nolan cut inside from the right, beat two defenders and drilled a low shot under the body of Hornets keeper Scott Loach to give the home side the lead. The keeper will have been disappointed not to keep the shot out but that was of little concern to the Owls fans who could sense a vital victory.

Just ten minutes later however the visitors were level out of nothing. A needless handball gave Watford a free-kick in a similar position to the one from which Potter had rattled the woodwork in the first half and top scorer Tom Cleverley beat Lee Grant with a sublime curling effort.

This knocked the stuffing out of the Owls for a while and they were on the back foot as Helguson went close with a header. Watford then had what looked like a decent shout for a penalty waved away when the ball appeared to strike Spurr’s arm.

Just as the game looked to be heading for the second frustrating home draw in a matter of days Varney popped up with the all important second goal.

Tudgay’s first-time pass found the on-loan Derby striker in space on the left-hand edge of the penalty area and he took it down on his chest and into his stride before lashing home past the helpless Loach.

The win sees the Owls move four points clear of 3rd-bottom Crystal Palace who have a game in hand and they also leapfrog Watford by a point though the Hornets have played two games less. Scunthorpe, Derby and even QPR could all be looking anxiously towards the foot of the table again as Wednesday have moved to within three points of all three after this last gasp win.