Wednesday bring the year to an end

Last updated : 30 December 2005 By Tony Scholes
Glenn Whelan
It’s not the first time Wednesday have provided the opposition for the last home game of the year either, it happened in successive years in 1961 and 1962, and a repeat of those games would go down very well indeed. Both were won 4-0 by the Clarets.

I think it is fair to say that they come to Turf Moor not in the best of form and it is clear that scoring goals is their major problem. A consolation goal in stoppage time at Watford from Glenn Whelan was the last time they found the net and that was back in November. They have since failed to score in seven games which have yielded two points from goalless draws.

Two of the goals they have scored will be remembered by the Clarets – they came back in September at Luton from Graeme Lee and David Graham and earned them a 2-2 draw. That point, on a Friday night was enough to send us to the bottom of the league.

They are probably Sheffield’s biggest club but have just spent the last two season’s in League One but won promotion, somewhat fortunately, last May via the play offs. They came from behind to beat Hartlepool in the final.

Manager Paul Sturrock had joined part way through the season, replacing Chris Turner, and things took an upturn from then. But he’s found the higher division a struggle and they currently sit between Crewe and Millwall at the bottom of the league.

Sturrock made no fewer than seven signings, including two on loan, during the close season and there have been a number of additions to the squad since. John Hills, the former Blackpool full back who enjoys kicking Burnley players up in the air, was the first of those signings and he was followed by Graham Coughlan (Plymouth), Burton O’Brien (Livingston), Frankie Simek (Arsenal) and Ritchie Partridge (Liverpool).

To add to those five he brought in Chris Eagles and Leon Best on loan from Manchester United and Southampton respectively although Best returned after just two games with an injury.

Eagles remains and four more loan players are also with Wednesday right now. These are Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), goalkeeper Nicky Weaver (Man City), Daryl Murphy (Sunderland) and Peter Gilbert (Leicester). There have also been more permanent signings. They paid a quarter of a million for David Graham from Wigan and also signed Maurice Ross from Rangers.

They have tried more than once to add a new striker to the squad. They agreed a fee with Wycombe for Nathan Tyson but he chose to go to Forest, Lee Trundle turned them down and stayed with Swansea and only last week they looked to have captured the signature of Kilmarnock’s Kris Boyd but he opted to remain in Scotland and signed for Rangers.

Although they Wednesday won only once on their travels, that coming at Norwich, they have lost less away games than ourselves, but they are one of just two clubs who have scored less goals than us away from home.

Click HERE to see all Wednesday’s results this season.

We’ll be hoping this game goes with current form and we can move into the New Year past the 40 points total.

Team News

Paul Sturrock is already trimming his squad for next season and today he has told Richard Evans, Paul Heckingbottom and Lee Peacock that they will not be offered new deals in the summer. He’s said they can find new clubs as soon as they wish and the same applies to Graeme Lee and Craig Rocastle who are contracted until the end of next season.

Whether any of them feature tomorrow remains to be seen, although Peacock is tipped to return, but one player who is expected to be in the squad is Danny Reet who has just been recalled from a loan spell at Bury.

Former Claret Drissa Diallo is expected to be on the bench and should Peacock play then he will probably replace Barry Corr from the side beaten by Wolves on Wednesday. That would leave them lining up:

Nicky Weaver, Graham Coughlan, Richard Wood, Frankie Simek, Peter Gilbert, Glenn Whelan, Burton O’Brien, Steve Adams, Chris Eagles, Lee Peacock, David Graham. Subs from: John Hills, Drissa Diallo, Ritchie Partridge, Barry Corr, Chris Brunt, Danny Reet.

Click HERE to see the full Sheffield Wednesday squad.

It is difficult to determine just how we are going to line up but it does look as though we will have to go into this game without the services of John Spicer who was withdrawn just before half time at Norwich following a bad challenge from Dean Ashton.

I suspect Spice might well have come back in at the expense of Gifton with us going back to a 4-5-1 system but I certainly don’t envisage us playing with three central defenders in this game which will mean Wayne Thomas returning to the bench.

I just think that Steve might well go with the team that beat Stoke and the team that played much of the second half against Norwich on Wednesday and if so our team will be:

Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Graham Branch, Gifton Noel-Williams, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs: Lee Grant, Wayne Thomas, Chris McCann, Danny Karbassiyoon, Garreth O’Connor.

Last Time

We’ve reported it previously but if anything is certain it is that tomorrow’s game will be nothing like the last one when we conceded seven goals in a home game for the second time in a month. That was in April 2003, when we were trying to sell season tickets, no wonder we lost over 3,000 season ticket holders.

It is the game when our then match reporter David Clark viewed the goalkeeping on show that day as being similar to a circus act. He referred to Nik Michopoulos as Coco, Marlon Beresford as Popov whilst Wednesday’s almost equally inept goalkeeper Chris Stringer was given the name Charlie Caroli.

Apart from that we had to play seventy minutes with ten men after Ian Moore actually showed some aggression and was promptly sent off by Mark Clattenburg.

Was there anything positive to report? Yes there was, and a superb few minutes ahead of the game, when Andy Payton and Paul Cook came onto the Turf Moor pitch to say their goodbyes. Payts, the natural born Claret, was our best goalscorer since Willie Irvine and Cooky I consider to be Stan Ternent’s best signing. Those two deserved better than the shambles that followed.

The teams that day were:

Burnley: Coco (Popov 37), Mark McGregor (Matt O’Neill 8), Graham Branch, Steve Davis, Arthur Gnohere, Brad Maylett (Gordon Armstrong 56), Tony Grant, Richard Chaplow, Robbie Blake, Ian Moore, Gareth Taylor. Subs not used: Andrew Waine, Mark Rasmussen.

Sheffield Wednesday: Kevin Pressman (Charlie Caroli 27), Steven Haslam, Ashley Westwood, Leigh Bromby, Brian Barry-Murphy, Paul McLaren, Grant Holt (Lloyd Owusu 78), Alan Quinn, Dean Smith (Richard Evans 45), Shefki Kuqi, Richard Wood. Subs not used: Phil O’Donnell, Joe Shaw.

Previous 20 Seasons

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

2000/01

1

h

1-0

16,372

Davis

.

.

a

0-2

20,184

.

2001/02

1

a

2-0

21,766

Taylor Cook(pen)

.

h

1-2

16,081

Taylor(pen)

2002/03

1

a

3-1

17,004

Taylor Little I Moore

..

h

2-7

17,435

Blake(2 1pen)

Click HERE to see all our previous results against Sheffield Wednesday.