Tim Mercer's PNE fans' panel view: North End nick a win on the road
As we travelled across the Pennines by train, the discussion from my fellow North Enders was one of ‘we must win’ against the ailing and bottom-of-the-table Owls if we want to stand a chance of being in the mix come May.
On the journey home, a relieved and happy set had to admit we’d done it the hard way: falling behind twice and relying on our Great Dane, Daniel Iversen, to pull off two outstanding saves, including a penalty, when the scores were level at 2-2.
There is no doubt in this fan’s mind that the expected goal at that point would have resulted in a first home win of the season for Wednesday.
Instead, only a few minutes later, another Dane – substitute Mads Frokjaer – secured all three points with a sublime finish from outside the box following excellent work from Lewis Dobbin.
Displaying the same frailties as we had done in the home defeat to Blackburn Rovers just eight days earlier, we fell behind within three minutes due to the hosts seemingly able to cut through our midfield and defence at will.
It was just too easy and is baffling to myself and those around me as to why this has changed recently.
Yes, we got back in it almost straight away following a training ground corner routine and Ben Whiteman strike, when the ball was pulled back to him outside the ‘D’.
Then, again, we blew it shortly afterwards with more midfield and defensive slips to deservedly go in at half-time 2-1 down.
Hence it was no surprise to see manager Paul Heckingbottom deciding on a double substitution at the restart as we slowly started to improve, tightening up at the back and being more creative going forward.
A rare goal from a corner, headed in by Dobbin from a Jordan Storey header back across the area, brought parity with still more than 30 minutes left on the clock.
It was at about halfway through that remaining time that the penalty was conceded for an Odeluga Offiah handball in a game which had become pretty even by that point and seemingly headed towards a draw.
However, the vulnerabilities that have seen Wednesday struggling so much this season meant there was always a chance to nick a win – and it was done in style by Frokjaer with the assistance of Dobbin.
With some of the injured players now getting back towards full fitness, let’s hope we can plug some of the worrying gaps that have appeared over the last few matches and continue to drive forward and maintain our play-off push.