Football: Wednesday's response gives Wilson hope

Sheffield Wednesday 3 Stoke City 1 Wednesday win 3-1 on agg

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY began their rehabilitation after the trauma of last weekend with their first goals in six matches and a maiden victory of the season last night. The result earned Wednesday a place in the next round of the Worthington Cup and gave their manager, Danny Wilson, some much-needed respite.

It was indicative of his state of mind that he declined to appear for the post-match debriefing and there was no explanation for the absence from the squad of his Italian striker, Benito Carbone, on whom the chairman, Dave Richards, has sought to lay much of the blame for Wednesday's woes.

After their 8-0 drubbing at Newcastle and the dreaded vote of confidence from Richards it was generally assumed that the next defeat would signal the end of Wilson's tenure. So this tie against a side two divisions below them offered, at best, a stay of execution and, at worse, further ignominy.

Wilson, however, preferred to see it as an opportunity to start winning back the hearts and minds of disgruntled Hillsborough, though the empty seats among the 10,993 crowd testified that many had already voted with their feet.

Wednesday's troubles could have multiplied when the Stoke midfielder James O'Connor got the better of a defence still suffering from shell shock to cut the ball back into the path of Kyle Lightbourne, who scooped his shot over the bar.

But the respite Wilson so badly needed was not long coming. Lee Briscoe crossed from the left and the Stoke defenders failed to pick up Niclas Alexandersson, who tapped in after only four minutes to record Wednesday's first goal since their home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur more than a month earlier. And when Gilles de Bilde volleyed in Andy Booth's cross from the edge of the box Stoke were finished.

The Stoke manager, Gary Megson, said: "Defensively we were awful. We tried to keep it tight for as long as we could but we lost concentration and they scored twice."

Stoke were lucky not to add to Wednesday's lead themselves, Chris Short turning a corner just outside his own post and Anders Jacobsen forcing a good save out of his own goalkeeper, Gavin Ward.

Wednesday may be propping up the Premiership but the gulf between them and the Second Division was further exposed when a cross by Booth was deflected to Alexandersson, who claimed his second goal from 10 yards. The substitute Richard Cresswell should have added more, sending a header narrowly wide and then missing with only Ward to beat.

Graham Kavanagh salvaged something for Stoke with a late drive that left Pavel Srnicek, restored to the Wednesday goal in the wake of Kevin Pressman's unhappy experience at St James' Park, standing.

Even then, Wednesday almost added to their problems when Des Walker's mis-hit back pass put the Stoke substitute, Paul Connor, clear and he was unlucky not to win a penalty after being felled by Srnicek.

Sheffield Wednesday (4-4-2): Srnicek; Nolan, Thome, Walker, Briscoe (Haslam, 37); Donnelly, Sonner, Alexandersson, Rudi (Sibon, 68); Booth, de Bilde (Cresswell, 67). Substitutes not used: Pressman (gk), Hamshaw.

Stoke City (4-4-2): Ward; Short, Mohan, Petty (Oldfield, h-t), Jacobsen; O'Connor (Heath, 78), Kavanagh, Keen, Clarke; Thorne (Connor, 61), Lightbourne. Substitutes not used: Dixon (gk), Aiston.

Referee: A Butler (Sutton-in-Ashfield).