Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers snatched a point at the death when it appeared all was lost. We can however feel slightly aggrieved given the controversial nature of the Sheffield Wednesday goal and our dominance in the 2nd half.

The squad saw a couple of changes from the side that faced Reading FC - Derik Osede in for Jan Kirchoff and Sammy Ameobi for Filipe Morais. The full line-up was as follows - Ben Alnwick, Jon Flanagan, Reece Burke, Mark Beevers, Andrew Taylor, Derik Osede, Karl Henry, Darren Pratley, Sammy Ameobi, Will Buckley and Adam Le Fondre.

The first half started with Wednesday in control although they were far from dominating. They had a golden chance to go 1-0 up through Jack Hunt but the defender skewed wide. Sheffield continued to find a lot of joy down our left flank but it would finish 0-0 in the first half.

The second half started with Wanderers on the front foot and they had 1 or 2 chances to take the lead. It would be Wednesday who would go 1-0 up with very little time left in a goal steeped in controversy. The linesman flagged for offside only to drop his flag a second later. An apoplectic Phil Parkinson made the point that given the flag being raised, the goal should be chalked off but to no avail. Wanderers brought Zach Clough and Aaron Wilbraham on and it was the latter who got the equaliser in stoppage time courtesy of a Filipe Morais assist.

The draw now sees us 6 points clear of the relegation zone with only 9 games left (some teams below us do have a game in hand however).

I did worry that our team (lineup and tactics) was too respectful of a team without a win in 6. Our attacking midfielder was Pratley and our left back was Taylor with both Clough and Robinson (being the more attacking, if less solid options) on the bench. Whilst a point shouldn’t be disregarded, a win would have been invaluable for both more points and team morale. It was there for the taking and we were too cautious in taking it.

Credit must be given to Aaron Wilbraham for getting a goal today. I rolled my eyes so much that they nearly detached when he came on but he got the goal and shut 90% of the fan base up. That said I still don’t think he should be above Clough in the pecking order and today doesn’t change that opinion.