By Nicholas Rigg
October 10 2005

Wednesday moved up two places in the table after an entertaining 3-2 victory over Micky Adams' Coventry City at Hillsborough. A first half goal from top scorer Graham Coughlan and a brace for Chris Brunt were enough for the Owls who missed numerous chances and had a battle against the referee.

Wednesday 3-2 Coventry

Date: Saturday 31st September

Venue: Hillsborough, Sheffield

Wednesday have finally climbed off the bottom of the Championship following an entertaining 3-2 victory over Coventry City at Hillsborough.

A first half header from defender/top scorer Graham Coughlan and a brace from Chris Brunt were enough to give the Owls their second win of the season, depsite some suspicious refereeing and more missed chances in front of goal.

Paul Sturrock promised to freshen-up his team after the 2-0 midweek defeat against Crystal Palace. Graham Coughlan was brought in to the side at the expense of Richard Wood who dropped to the bench. Craig Rocastle was also brought in to the side in place of Burton O'Brien.

Coventry were without ex-Sheffield United defender Robert Page and top scorer Dele Adebola. Matt Heath came in to replace Page, and Andrew Morrell was given his chance up front to partner James Scowcroft.

Wednesday started the brighter of the two sides and Chris Brunt forced an early save from Stephen Bywater in the Coventry goal.

After pushing their visitors back for the first 15 minutes, Wednesday found their breakthrough through an ever more likely source. Graham Coughlan now tops the goalscoring charts at the club after heading home a Brunt corner on 16 minutes.

Wednesday were pushing for a second goal to ease the pressure, and City were looking for that vital equaliser to bring them back in to the game - and it made for an entertaining match for any neutral fan at least.

Gary McSheffrey went on a mazy run deep inside the Wednesaday half only to see his final shot scrambled behind for a corner kick.

At the other end, Chris Brunt forced a fantastic save from Bywater from a free-kick.

The talking point of the game came on 31 minutes. McSheffrey was once again at the centre of the City attack as he went through on goal only to see his run ended by a brilliant David Lucas stop which saw the ball go out for a corner. To the amazement of the majority of the 23,000 in Hillsborough the referee pointed to the spot, and McSheffrey equalised for the visitors.

The sound of boos in Hillsborough must have been heard over half of South Yorkshire, but those boos were soon to be drowned out by cheers as Wednesday pressed the City defence determined to get the goal to send them back in to the lead.

That goal came from a fantastic Chris Brunt volley from more than 35 yards which Bywater could do nothing about. Surely one of the goals of the season from the Northern Irisih international which gave Wednesday the lead going in to the break.

Wednesday could have had an even safer cushion going in to the break when Craig Rocastle found himself in front of goal. Some neat play by the Owls resulted in Rocastle's shot being superbly turned over the bar for a corner.

The second half continued in the same vein the first had left, with Wednesday dominating and looking the more likely to score. A Brunt free-kick somehow fell at the feet of Lee Peacock, but his shot hit the post and fell kindly in to the arms of a fortunate Bywater.

Coventry had not given up hope though, and created chances of their own through the on-loan Willo Flood and the on-form McSheffrey. Surprisingly, boss Micky Adams opted to bring Flood off despite being one of City's better players, and was replaced by Claus Jorgensen.

Wednesday were still in the habit of missing glorious oportunities in front of goal, and David Graham con tinued the trend when he found himself through on goal on 72 minutes, only for his shot to drift wide of the far post. Peacock and Eagles looked unmarked in the box.

The Owls were made to pay for their misses just minutes later when Coventry equalised. Adams' team was enjoying one of their better spells in the game possession wise, and a corner from Hughes was met by Andy Morrell to head it in to the top corner of Lucas' goal.

Despite losing the lead twice, Wednesday showed the character they had done against West Ham in the Carling Cup recently, and kept on pressing City for the third goal which would get them the three points.

The decisive goal came just five minutes later when Lee Peacock was fouled in the box by Andrew Whing. This time there was no objection to the decision, and Chris Brunt slotted home his second of the afternoon to give the Owls the lead.

A positive performance from Wednesday and an entertaining game was enough to give Sturrock's men a second win of the season and move them up two places in the league table. If a proven goalscorer such as Steven Maclean had been on the field the game would have surely been wrapped up by the hour mark, but Sturrock must persist with Graham and Peacock for the time being while he desperately seeks a goalscorer. Hopefully that man will be in place for the next game away at Plymouth in two weeks.

My Man Of The Match: Craig Rocastle

Wednesday:
D Lucas (7), J Hills (7), G Coughlan (8), G Lee (7), F Simek (6), C Brunt (8), G Whelan (5), C Eagles (6) (77 B O'Brien) , C Rocastle (9), L Peacock (6), D Graham (6) (86 L Bullen)
Subs: L Bullen, B Corr, B O'Brien, R Partridge, R Wood

Coventry City:
S Bywater, R Duffy, M Hall, M Heath, A Whing, W Flood (60 C Jorgensen) , M Doyle, S Hughes (89 P Watson) , A Morrell, J Scowcroft, G McSheffrey
Subs: C Ince, I Osbourne, C Jorgensen, P Watson, A Impey

"People forget he's only 20, and we are asking a lot of him. But his contribution in the second half took us up the pitch."

Paul Sturrock told SWFC.co.uk:

''Fans of both teams got their money's worth today but we've lost two goals again. Football's all about concentration levels and that's something for which I've got to point my finger at near enough the whole team.''

''I thought the boy Peacock ran the line fantastically well and the boy Graham was very lively.''

Attendance: 22,732

Referee: L Mason