Sheffield Wednesday
In The News: Mon 12th December
By Nicholas Rigg
December 12 2005
In this section of Wednesday Wonderland we take a look at how Wednesday are hitting the news: either in newspapers, or on other media websites. These articles are totally independant from Wednesday Wonderland and are not the views expressed by our site.
PAUL STURROCK insists he will be back at his desk today to lead Sheffield Wednesday's escape bid.
The Owls boss missed Jason Price's late winner when he was taken to hospital to be treated for a mystery virus.
Sturrock was not left feeling any better as his side were denied a deserved point by Hull.
But Sturrock vowed to stay off his sick bed to steer a route to safety after another damaging defeat.
A Wednesday spokesman said: "Paul was unwell with a suspected viral complaint and suffered with sickness during the game.
"After being treated by Hull's medical staff Sturrock walked out of the ground to be taken for precautionary tests at a local hospital."
Price swept home Stuart Green's 88th-minute corner to seal City's first back-to-back wins this season as they climbed seven points clear of the drop zone.
City boss Peter Taylor admits Sturrock's health scare took the edge off a vital win.
Taylor said: "Before the start of the season I said to Paul this league would turn us greyer and older and it's proving to be a tough division.
"But I'm delighted to have taken six points from six."
Both sides were promoted last term but Wednesday are without a win in half a dozen games after a four-match goal drought.
Skipper Glenn Whelan - who was taken off at the break with hamstring trouble - admits they face a difficult battle to survive now.
The midfielder said: "We're coming up against bigger and better teams on a regular basis and it's a lot tougher."
Wednesday haven't won at Hull for 35 years, and showed few signs of breaking their duck as their struggles in front of goal left them just a point clear of the bottom three.
Their lack of firepower left them open to the late sucker punch from substitute Price, which came three minutes from time.
Sturrock's number two Kevin Summerfield said: "We lacked that killer instinct."
If you can't score then there is always the danger that one slip-up or one clinical strike at the other end will bring distress - and that's what happened on Saturday when the Owls were caught out near the end.
Five Wednesday players were in the frame against three opponents in the zone where the ball landed from a left-wing corner but no-one picked up Jason Price, who had a free volley into the net.
Wednesday were aggrieved and left to clutch at straws, feeling that it should have been not a corner but a free-kick for a push on Peter Gilbert.
They may well have been right, but their own lack of firepower is more worrying than the occasional, debatable decision, and at the moment it is hard to see how the problem is going to solved without a good signing when the transfer window opens in January.
It's not a case of people missing sitters - the Owls did not create a lot on Saturday, but they still don't seem have that important player who is going to produce a goal out of nothing, when a clear chance doesn't even seem to exist.
So a lot of endeavour and reasonably effective play in most areas of the pitch is going unrewarded, and Wednesday have gone four games without a goal and six without a win.
Boss Paul Sturrock has already acknowledged that the recent run is relegation form. He has been been trying for many weeks to cure the obvious flaw, not helped by injury problems and the difficulties of the transfer market.
But is anyone surprised that this is proving a demanding season for all at Hillsborough? Certainly not Peter Taylor. Praising Sturrock for the "absolutely tremendous" job he has done since he took over the Owls, the Hull boss said he had phoned Sturrock after the play-off final to congratulate him.
"I was really pleased for him and the club. We both agreed we were going to get older and greyer, because we knew it was going to be a tough division for us. That's how it's worked out," he said.
Hull finished way ahead of Wednesday last season but on Saturday the Owls more than matched them in most ways, even after losing on-form Glenn Whelan to a back problem at half-time.
Wednesday had spells of attractive football, against a Hull side who were as ineffective up front as them.
Men such as Whelan, Burton O'Brien and David Graham had their moments in the build-up play.
At the back, Graham Coughlan won just about everything in the air and Frankie Simek was excellent. Nicky Weaver was mostly kicking his heels.
Graham was a link man rather than a finisher; his strike partner, Daryl Murphy, looked dangerous at times when he took on defenders on the left to deliver balls across the box.
But the team always lacked a cutting edge. There were a few scrambles in the Hull box - when a poacher might really have come in handy - and the only instance when the team made something like a clear opportunity was in the 71st minute when a header by Richard Wood from a Chris Eagles cross was saved.
Eagles had taken over from Lee Peacock on the right side of midfield. Kevin Summerfield - who took the after-match Press conference because Sturrock felt unwell - explained the choice of Peacock for this role.
"It was just something we wanted to try, and he he gave us a bit of fizz with his enthusiasm," he said.
Peacock, while not able to head the ball for a while after he injured his neck at Watford three weeks ago, was taken out of the firing line in training but when placed in a right-side role for training work at Middlewood had shown an aptitude for it. In matches, he has also shown energy and a good defending in the air in his own box, so, with the injury behind him, the Owls gave him a go.
It was a compliment to the willing striker that Summerfield felt his departure may have contributed to Hull scoring from a set-piece.
"He ran out of steam, which we expected," said the assistant manager, who will have faulted Wednesday's marking at the match-winning corner.
But he also said: "I'm disappointed over the goal. Their lad pushed Peter Gilbert over, and the ref gave a corner. It clearly should have been a free-kick to us. That's why Gilbert is absolutely furious, and got booked.
"We haven't been getting the rub of the green; hopefully it will come; hopefully it will come sooner rather than later."
SHEFFIELD Wednesday manager Paul Sturrock has been given a clean bill ofhealth after he spent the night in hospital in Hull on Saturday after the derby game with Hull City.
He spent the night in hospital as tests were carried out on the 49-year-old, but was discharged on Sunday morning, having been given the all-clear.
A Wednesday spokesman said last night: "Paul had not been feeling well for a few days, but felt okay on Saturday morning and went to the game. During the game he didn't feel well."
Sturrock was due to return to the Middlewood Road training ground for work today.
On the field, a goal from substitute Jason Price three minutes from full-time earned Hull the points in a drab Yorkshire derby.
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