Sheffield Wednesday slumped to yet another League One loss on Saturday, this time at the hands of struggling Southampton thanks to a solitary second half strike from Lee Barnard.
Going into the game on the back of three defeats Alan Irvine chose to make to changes to the starting line up that had surrendered at the hands of ten-man Plymouth last weekend. Daniel Jones replaced Tommy Spurr at left back and Gary Teale came in for Chris Sedgwick.
The visitors made the brighter start against an Owls side looking understandably low on confidence with Barnard and Puncheon both denied in the early exchanges. An off target Potter free-kick and a tame header from O’Connor was all that the Owls managed to muster in the first half hour and although they improved as the half drew to a close there was precious little to get the Hillsborough faithful on their feet.
Wednesday skipper Darren Purse failed to appear for the second half due to injury, bringing about a defensive reshuffle that saw Otsemobor introduced at right-back with Buxton moving into central defence.
The second half began in the same manner that the first had finished with Wednesday coming into the game without having a concerted threat, only an effort from distance brought Kelvin Davis into action in the Saints goal.
The Owls were exposed in the 62nd minute when Southampton capitalised on a poor ball in a poor area of the field from Buxton. Lambert fed his fellow front man Barnard into space in the Owls penalty area and he lifted the ball over the advancing Weaver and into the bottom corner of the net to give the Saints their first goal in six matches.
Irvine responded by bringing on Morrison for Potter and then Miller for Teale ten minutes later but Southampton looked comfortable enough and seemed more likely to grab a second than concede an equaliser.
Wednesday did belatedly assert some pressure going into the final ten minutes as a Tudgay header from a corner was stopped on the line with Davis saving from Mellor on the rebound. Morrison fired just wide in injury time but the visitors were not to be denied a deserved victory against a home side seemingly bereft of attacking ideas for long spells of the game
Post match a small vociferous group of fans gathered beneath the South Stand to vent their frustrations at the board of directors in relation to the ongoing financial problems and the continued potential threat of administration that hangs over the club. To his great credit Chairman Howard Wilkinson, who has inherited rather than been a part of the off field issues affecting the club, addressed the fans to try and get his point across. Wednesday are in desperate need of significant investment sooner rather than later and in emphasising this point Wilkinson did at least state that a deal is close. Time will tell if this proves to be the case.
After collecting ten points from a possible twelve in August Wednesday have failed to pick up a single point in September from four matches and will have one last chance to address this against Oldham at Hillsborough on Tuesday evening. The run has seen the Owls fail to score in three of the four defeats and they have slipped from 1st place to 14th in the table. Win, lose or draw on Tuesday the Owls will certainly be glad to see the back of September and will hope that October will be a more fruitful month.