Luck deserts fluent Latics

WING WIZARDRY: Josh Parker makes headway down the flank as Athletic probe for a way through.

Athletic 0, Sheffield Wed 2

High-flying Owls find a way to win tough battle
WHEN plotting a route towards the Championship, conventional wisdom on these shores has it that there are two broad options.

The first was taken by Brighton last season. Under the guidance of a purist manager in Gus Poyet, the Seagulls claimed the title through a full-on commitment to silky, passing football right across the pitch.

The second pathway was plotted by Southampton in that same campaign. In finishing second behind Brighton, Saints showcased physicality and a less subtle approach in directing play from one end of the field to the other.

It is an over-simplification to label Sheffield Wednesday simply as a long-ball side.

Under wily boss Gary Megson, though, the Owls showed in

taking three points from a tight encounter at Boundary Park that they aren’t afraid to adopt a belt-and-braces, slim-risk strategy in order to gain the promotion such a large club feels it rightly deserves.

A tall and physically robust side, Wednesday show a desire to roll up their collective sleeves and tough it out to gain the results they need.

The visitors will argue that their second-half revival at Boundary Park merited the victory that was achieved.

But up to the point the visitors took the lead, at least, on balance Athletic were by more than a short distance the superior side.

Playing the more fluent football, manager Paul Dickov will have been more than happy with the approach play of his men – if not the absence of a vital finishing touch.

Shefki Kuqi, up against the club he had a mixed spell with as a Hillsborough employee nine years ago, directed a header from a Robbie Simpson corner over the crossbar when latching onto it, unmarked, in the first half.

Returning captain Dean Furman had earlier cracked a 25-yarder narrowly wide and on his final appearance on loan before his – to say the least, reluctant – return to parent club Huddersfield, Simpson had two efforts saved by Owls goalkeeper Stephen Bywater.

The first was scuffed with his left foot after a flowing counter-attack, the second from a one-one-one opportunity after being set free by Luca Scapuzzi in which his low attempt was well-stopped by Bywater’s legs.

Neutrals will have observed that in the opening half, many of the contentious decisions from referee Kevin Friend went the way of Athletic, much to the fury of the Owls’ gesticulating manager.

And as the second period got underway, it was as if a moratorium had been placed on anything favourable arriving following the blowing of a whistle.

First, already-booked centre-back Rob Jones piled through Simpson and his leading arm would on another afternoon have seen him depart the field of play after only 46 minutes. Cautioned for a foul no worse in the opening half, a free-kick was the only punishment meted out.

As Wednesday finally found their feet as an attacking force, half-time substitute Ryan Lowe was as offside as they come when latching on to the effective Chris O’Grady’s flick-on, racing through to force Alex Cisak into a good low save with his legs.

Nothing was given, just as Athletic were left waiting in vain for a free-kick on Kieran Lee soon after. And after

Jean-Yves Mvoto had been forced off with hamstring trouble – up to that point, he had been a rock-like presence – David Prutton’s foot was high in taking the ball off the head of Mvoto’s replacement James Tarkowski.

If the origins of the opening goal were murky, little else about it was. Former Nottingham Forest, Leeds and England Under-21s midfielder Prutton showed he retains his class by flicking up the ball once more, pirouetting and slamming home a right-foot shot which gave Cisak no chance.

Athletic heads dipped a little. Josh Parker fired wastefully over following good work and a rifled left-wing cross from Scapuzzi, who didn’t enjoy one of his better days.

Filipe Morais was bright as Parker’s replacement and from the second of his two dangerous early crosses from the right, fellow sub Matt Smith climbed to head only a foot wide of the post.

By then, though, Athletic were two goals behind.

The awarding of the penalty by referee Friend’s assistant was tougher to comprehend than a lecture on quantum physics delivered in Japanese.

Simpson could hardly believe he had been punished for an alleged push on Sanchez Watt as a goalmouth scramble ensued after Cisak had superbly saved from a Jones header, after which O’Grady’s attempt was hacked off the goal line.

A number of similar incidents had occurred in the seconds preceding Watt going to ground, with players from the home side on the receiving end.

It was a harsh decision on Athletic, to say the least, on an unforgiving afternoon for the club.