Coke puts fizz into Carling Cup as Wednesday progress

Last updated : 10 August 2010 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday edged out Bury in a close Carling Cup first round fixture at Hillsborough on Tuesday evening. The Shakers came to Sheffield without a win in the competition in the last three seasons but ran a much-changed Owls side close with a spirited display.

Alan Irvine chose not to blood one of his young goalkeepers, opting to stick with Nicky Weaver between the sticks but there were plenty of changes to the side that beat Dagenham & Redbridge in the league at the weekend. Liam Palmer, Daniel Jones, Jon Otsemobor, Neil Mellor and Paul Heffernan all made their first competitive starts for the Owls and Darren Potter returned to the midfield.

The visitors almost shook their hosts early on when Andy Bishop netted a follow-up after Weaver had parried but the offside flag saved the Owls blushes.

It was a sluggish start from Wednesday and they failed to test Cameron Belford in the bury goal with anything of significance in the first 45 minutes while Bishop continued to cause them problems at the other end.

Alan Irvine was clearly unimpressed with the lack of threat from his side and introduced both Giles Coke and Clinton Morrison for the start of the second half at the expense of Jones and Heffernan.

On the hour mark it was Coke who made the breakthrough with an incisive run from the left he drilled a low shot into the net to give the Owls what was probably an undeserved lead.

Despite the setback the League Two side continued to press and Mark Beevers was spared the embarrassment of an own goal thanks to a fine save from Weaver before Bishop rattled the Owls crossbar.

Tommy Spurr almost doubled the Owls lead with 20 minutes remaining but saw his free-kick come back into play and to safety off the crossbar and Clinton Morrison headed wide with the goal at his mercy with two minutes left but in truth this would have flattered the home side.

Despite an under par performance Wednesday have negotiated a tricky first round tie on a night when plenty of teams have suffered defeat at the hands of unfancied opposition and will look forward to the 2nd round draw.

The Owls are yet to concede this season and are likely to welcome back some of their more established first team players for the tough trip to Colchester on Saturday.

Detailed match stats can be found here