Sheffield Wednesday made it through to the northern section quarter finals of the football league trophy on Wednesday evening, winning an entertaining clash with Chesterfield 8-7 on penalties following a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes.
Alan Irvine made 6 changes to the side that started the 2-0 win over Notts County at the weekend with Buxton and Jones coming in to the full back positions, Teale and Sedgwick given the wide midfield berths and Neil Mellor getting an opportunity up front. Darren Potter scored after coming on as a substitute on Saturday and he started in central midfield.
Former Owls striker Drew Talbot returned to the Chesterfield side in a wide attacking position having missed the Spireites 5-5 draw with Crewe due to a broken nose. Former Sheffield United forward Jack Lester had to settle for a place on the bench.
In a lively opening both sides looked to get the ball down and attack wherever possible and there were early chances at either end. Weaver saved well from Griffiths in front of the Kop and at the other end a low drive from Mellor after good link play from Morrison was comfortably kept of by Tommy Lee.
The visitors, clearly intent on using attack as the best form of defence were rewarded for their positivity on 10 minutes when Talbot was given room to cross from the right and Morgan stole in between Beevers and Purse to steer a shot past Weaver from close range.
The Spireites joy was short lived however as Wednesday levelled matter just two minutes later. Morrison did well to latch onto a direct ball from Potter and cut inside two defenders only to be denied by Lee as he tried to round the keeper but Chesterfield dithered in clearing the ball and it fell at the feet of Mellor who made n mistake from 15 yards out.
Chances came and went for both sides in the first half with Morrison and Sedgwick testing Lee before Mellor was denied by the goalkeeper on the stroke of half time having raced clear into the box. At the other end Bowery had an effort disallowed for offside, Davies, who caused Purse problems throughout, brought the best out of Weaver and also had a goal ruled out thanks to an offside flag.
Wednesday made a good start to the second half but failed to capitalise on a series of corners. Chesterfield enjoyed some good possession with the Owls perhaps sitting in too deep but Weaver was having a quieter time of things after the break. The home side almost made the breakthrough around the hour mark when a fine run and cut back from Teale was met by Mellor whose first time strike crashed back into play off the bar. Purse was denied when his goal bound header was cleared off the line by Hunt as Wednesday continued to press but they were caught out on 83 minutes.
An apparent lack of communication between Buxton and Purse saw the former inadvertently flick Griffiths’ ball over the top into the path of Davies, who had previously fired a number of efforts wide in the second half but he made no mistake this time with a cool low finish.
The jubilant away contingent sensed victory but Chesterfield were pegged back again with just two minutes to go. Coke’s burst into the penalty area was brought to an abrupt end by Niven’s mistimed challenge near the goal line and Tudgay, on as a late substitute for Morrison, stepped up to the spot. The striker saw his penalty saved by Lee but made now mistake in drilling home when it came back out to him.
With no extra time in this competition the match went straight to penalties, Heffernan fired Wednesday’s 3rd spot kick wide but Weaver immediately denied Whitaker. Potter saw his effort saved giving Mattis the chance to win the game but Weaver denied him as well. Lee saved from Sedgwick with the shoot out in sudden death but Weaver came to Wednesday’s rescue again as Ford failed to beat the Owls stopper from 12 yards. With all outfield players having had a go it came down to the keepers. Weaver drilled his penalty down the middle, just under the bar then saw his counterpart Lee fire wide to send Wednesday through.
The tie provided great entertainment for the Sky Sports cameras and a healthy crowd of 15,000 at Hillsborough. The draw for the next round of the competition takes place on Sky Sports Soccer AM programme from 10am this coming Saturday.