4 star Orient pile pressure on Owls boss Irvine

Last updated : 24 January 2011 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday were hit by a 2nd half Orient express in London on Saturday as they fell to a 4-0 defeat in League One.

Wednesday gave a debut to new signing Gary Madine alongside Clinton Morrison in attack and Lewis Buxton returned a right-back following a long lay-off with a hamstring injury as Michael Morrison reverted to centre-back in place of Darren Purse.

In a fairly even first-half Wednesday went close to taking the lead after 15 minutes when Sedgwick saw his header cleared off the line by Daniels. Gary Teale twice tested Jamie Jones in the home goal from distance in the next 15 minutes while In between those efforts Alex Revell had the ball in the Owls net but was denied by an offside flag.

Buxton’s come back lasted just 45 minutes as he was replaced by Beevers at the break with Morrison moving to right-back and Madine’s debut was also cut short as an injury saw him replaced by Neil Mellor.

Wednesday went behind just 5 minutes after the restart when Teale was deemed to have handled Revell's knock back and Ben Chorley made no mistake from the penalty spot. Leyton Orient doubled their advantage on 57 minutes when Harry Kane caught the Owls sleeping to get on the end of a free-kick and score from close range.

But for Weaver Kane might well have had a hat-trick as the home side continued to cut through Wednesday with ease and they made it 3-0 with a little over 10 minutes remaining thanks to a Revell header as the visitors again failed to defend a free-kick into the box. The rout was complete on 84 minutes when Paul-Jose M’Poku’s speculative free-kick beat Weaver.

The defeat was Wednesday’s 4th in succession on the road in the league and leaves them 5 points adrift of the play-off places and a further 4 points back from the automatic promotion slots. In those 4 away games the Owls have scored just twice and have conceded 12 goals.

Sections of the Owls travelling support voiced their disapproval at manager Alan Irvine and the Scot is under intense pressure as Wednesday’s season is in danger of derailing.