Stephen Bywater-7, Bywater wasn't tested much but when he was called into action he did what was
required of him, including a great save from Ched Evans towards the end.
Lewis Buxton-8, dealt with the threat of Stephen Quinn expertly, as well as offering a threat down the wing with a delightful assist in the 73rd minute.
Danny Batth-9, Man of the Match today. Batth didn't put a foot wrong and had the recently lethal Ched Evans in his pocket for the whole match.
Rob Jones-8, was once again very solid especially in the air, he also made a crucial sliding challenge on Evans towards the end.
Reda Johnson-8, rounding up a fantastic defensive performance from the Owls, Reda as always looked a powerhouse with plenty of fine challenges.
Michail Antonio-9, Considering it was his debut, Antonio offered the much needed spark after JJ was ruled out for 8 weeks, excited to see more.
Chris Lines-7, Solid game from Lines, however united central midfield were really poor, so there wasn't much for him and Semedo to deal with.
Jose Semedo-7, (see above)
David Prutton-5, didn't offer much to the team today and because of his tendency to slip in central midfield, he left huge space out wide on numerous occasions.
Ryan Lowe-5, Couldn't seem to stay on his feet today, got into a few nice positions and very nearly connected with a Michail Antonio cross, but didn't really impress.
Chris O'Grady-9, Another outstanding performance from the big man, can't understand the negativity from some Wednesday fans, we all know his goalscoring record isn't fantastic, but a lot more than any striker i've seen in Hillsborough in a while.
As I currently live in Newcastle, this is the first game i've been to for a month of so and it never fails to disappoint. Derby Day is a huge occasion at Hillsborough, and that could be seen from the 36,000 fans that attended. This match was dubbed the most important since the 1993 meeting between the two sides in the F.A Cup semi final. With the Blades looking to stretch their lead in second place, all the pressure was on Wednesday to perform.
The atmosphere throughout the game was intense and the passion in the ground was echoed on the pitch by most of the Wednesday side. Rob Jones and Danny Batth in particular putting their bodies on the line for the team. For the First 10 or so minutes United dominated possession, however few chances were carved out by either side. The first real scare came around 20 minutes in, with another stupid free kick given away on the edge of the box. Lee Williamson crashed the underside of the crossbar and 30,000 people took a huge sigh of relief.
Gradually, Wednesday grew more and more into the game and started to create their own chances. Impressive debutant Michail Antonio was causing problems down the right hand side, and found his way to the by line, smashing the ball low and hard across the goal mouth only for Ryan Lowe to miss it with a sliding effort by a matter of inches.
The game was end to end, without many chances falling to either side. The only real opportunity for the rest of the half fell to Chris O'Grady. The ball found its way to him after a deflected shot from David Prutton, but he failed to gather the ball under control.
United once again dominated possession for the last 5-10 minutes of the first half, after a very even contest, but still failed to create much, apart from a few half hearted penalty appeals.
The half time whistle was blown and probably came at the right time for Wednesday, who had gone off the boil for the final few minutes. As the second half started, once again United started relatively brightly, but within 2 or 3 minutes they seemed to capitulate. All the energy from both sides in the first half seemed to disappear from United and Wednesday took advantage by controlling the possession.
The game began to come to a stand still and looked like a scrappy 0-0 was the only likely outcome. out of no where, Antonio and Buxton combined brilliantly down the right hand side, with buxton taking on his man and whipping in a delightful cross for O'Grady to pounce and head the ball across goal into the opposite corner. That goal sent the crowd into raptures, and 3 sides of Hillsborough exploded whilst one was silenced. For the rest of the game Wednesday continued to look comfortable, and were spurred on by the ground which was full of bouncing, singing Wednesdayites.
The Owls seem to have had one fatal flaw this year and that's conceding late goals. Yeovil, Huddersfield and Leyton Orient have all capitalised on Wednesday switching off in the final moments of the game over recent months. The fear factor began to kick in once again with 3 or 4 minutes remaining. Every Owl in the ground was biting their nails. For one moment it looked as if Wednesday had blown it by allowing Evans acres of space in the box from 6 yards out. Fortunately, his header was poor but still needed to be tipped over the top by Stephen Bywater.
This proved to be the last chance of the match and with the final whistle, Hillsborough saw scenes of jubilation, with the players, fans and coaching staff all delighted. Rob Jones showed his joy by lifting the gaffer off his feet as he walked towards the tunnel after receiving a standing ovation.
After a disappointing run of results, this victory was crucial and can hopefully lift us back into full swing, and challenge our steal city rivals for a place in the top 2. Hopefully the result and performance will also see the ridiculous rumours concerning the departure of Gary Megson dissapear, and everyone will get behind the team on our route to promotion!! UTO
