-v- 
Wednesday Preston
I was determined right from the off to enjoy this game…I was pretty confident we’d win but no matter if we didn’t…I was going to squeeze out enjoyment from the game somewhere. This was Preston after all…they had the tree that is John Parkin playing for them so when everything else goes to shit, you’ve got someone or something to abuse.
It was the first of those proper English winter footy nights….just before the clocks go back….getting dark early now anyway….a chill in the air…dampness in the air…pitch wet and glistening under the floodlights…I love the smell of evenings like this…of footy nights like this….PROPER footy weather, it smells like footy.
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THE MATCH
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I loved this game, absolutely loved it…yeah, yeah I know…the second half wasn’t what it should have been, plus the little fact….we lost.
Well I DID enjoy it…so shoot me.
The first 45 minutes of this game were nothing short of orgasmic…If you weren’t wetting yourself at this display….then you really need to find a different sport….it was wonderful…and the first time we’d seen the beautiful game in all it’s glory at S6 in such a long time….and we didn’t have long for it all to start…
Almost from the kick off and Lewis Buxton rifles a shot goalward but the Preston keeper gathers easy….no sooner has he got shut of the ball and we’re attacking again!
JJ had a gilt edged chance…Gray takes a perfect corner and there’s JJ, inside the 6 yard box, an unmarked header, gaping goal and you could see it going through his mind…his instructions from summer footy camp…’HEAD THE BALL DOWNWARDS!’
He did just that…only it was ‘too down’…it went straight down and bounced over the bar…what a chance already and only a couple of minutes gone…we continue this assault on the Preston goal…and that’s what it was…an assault. All they could do was batten down the hatches and put everything they had behind the ball….it was only going to be a matter of time before we unleashed hell on em though…they were gonna have it…we were incredible….passing….movement….running for each other…taking players on…it was simply breathtaking at times…
From everyone…Leon…fook me Leon…some of his flicks were incredible…his awareness, his vision…it was excellent. We’d discussed before kick off how it was time Potter stepped his game up and got back to his skilful best…he did…some of the passing and movement between him and Gray was excellent, the slightest movement, outside of the boot...nonchalantly, so simple, so easy...and everyone wanted to be involved…O Connor was unbelievable at times. He never gave them a minute’s peace, if by some chance they got the ball, they didn’t have it long without feeling him snapping at their heels…but we just couldn’t make that final breakthrough…it wasn’t through lack of effort or even shots on target this time…we DID get shots in, they WERE on target, we DID work hard, all over the pitch, but the fookin ball just would not cross the line for us.
Leon had a go…the keeper pulls off a cracking save…Tommy puts an absolutely mint cross into the box, Leon gets on the end…and it STILL WON’T FOOKIN GO OVER THE LINE….Varney from a scramble…NOPE!….Varney from distance…NOPE!
We'd ripped the shit out of Preston, made them look daft....turned them inside out and now we're losing?
I said ya can fookin bollocks!
What a fookin shot!
We were on our feet….it was heading straight for us and into the back of the net….IT HITS THE POST!
YOU ARE HAV-
Before we can finish it rebounds straight back to Jayj and he doesn’t break stride…just leathers the fooker straight back where it came from…GOA-
YOU CAN FOOK RIGHT OFF!
Exactly back where it came from, off the post…we were on our feet celebrating a goal and we’d been denied AGAIN!
It was the very least we deserved…in fact it was less than we deserved…and for the remaining few minutes we continued to put Preston to the sword…they were praying for the half time whistle…we had corner after corner and went close again, hitting the woodwork…keeper nowhere…this was unreal…when the ref finally did blow you could feel the collective Preston sigh of relief…players, management and fans alike…they’d gotten away murder that half.
It was 1-1 and as I texted everyone gushing about what we’d seen I got one back from Jonny saying "5-1 wouldn’t have flattered us"….and he was bang on…Preston certainly couldn’t have complained had it been that scoreline.
Still….loads to look forward to second half…more of the same and there’s no way they could stand it for another 45.
Well…that must have been the plan but it just didn’t happen…once again we seemed to ease off.
OK, they’d obviously been told they were still in the game after being totally mullered and there was no way we could keep it up…they were right and they had a bit more purpose about them…they still didn’t look good but we were nowhere near what we were first half…we let them have things too easy and 10 minutes in when Balloon Brother 1 cut the ball back from the left, there was the other Balloon waiting to tap it in…and that’s all it took…a side foot…
He ran towards the kop and slid on his knees celebrating in front of us…milking it….he was fookin loving it…OK, so I gave him some right abuse….I know it's not big and it's not clever but I did....but no matter what…he took it and he loved it even more…his face was a picture…soaking it all up…
We went close a couple of times in the half, including yet another cleared off the line, but it was effectively over…we never reached the same standard we had first half…they didn’t really bother us either…
The most notable thing for us the second half was the introduction of Franny Jeffers and the boo as he came on, and even louder as his name was called out…I don’t get this at all.
I know fans feel pissed off with him but here we are a goal behind, we fetch a striker on and we make him feel like shit.
What fookin good does that do?
Fair play to Stan when the kop started booing around us he stood up and told them to fook off…asking what good it did…it’s bollocks…Stan is definitely no fan of Jeffers but he knows the effect booing has on players… I applauded Jeffers onto the pitch…but I applaud Stan even more.
When the final whistle went the crowd booed again….
Why?
Because we lost?
Because we were shit?
Because we didn’t put the effort in?
I don’t get it.
At Derby we were dreadful…they didn’t play, they didn’t turn up…the team deserved criticism…this was different…we got the full range from the players.
So we fookin lost.
It hurts…of course it hurts but FFS let’s get some perspective on this…
As far as I’m concerned this game summed up Sheffield Wednesday perfectly at this moment in time.
It showed you exactly why we won’t go up and exactly why we won’t go down…we are sublime…we are shit…and more often than not we’re average…and when we see something like the first 45 tonight…we simply have to savour it…no matter what…as Sir Bobby said…enjoy the game not the prize…I enjoyed the game immensely tonight…EVEN THOUGH we lost.
It was simply one of those nights against one of those teams and for the rest of this season and all of next, Preston will not be taken to the cleaners like they were in that first half
I’m REALLY looking forward to Watford on Friday now.
Owls Alive
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It was the first of those proper English winter footy nights….just before the clocks go back….getting dark early now anyway….a chill in the air…dampness in the air…pitch wet and glistening under the floodlights…I love the smell of evenings like this…of footy nights like this….PROPER footy weather, it smells like footy.
-
THE MATCH
-
I loved this game, absolutely loved it…yeah, yeah I know…the second half wasn’t what it should have been, plus the little fact….we lost.
Well I DID enjoy it…so shoot me.
The first 45 minutes of this game were nothing short of orgasmic…If you weren’t wetting yourself at this display….then you really need to find a different sport….it was wonderful…and the first time we’d seen the beautiful game in all it’s glory at S6 in such a long time….and we didn’t have long for it all to start…
Almost from the kick off and Lewis Buxton rifles a shot goalward but the Preston keeper gathers easy….no sooner has he got shut of the ball and we’re attacking again!
JJ had a gilt edged chance…Gray takes a perfect corner and there’s JJ, inside the 6 yard box, an unmarked header, gaping goal and you could see it going through his mind…his instructions from summer footy camp…’HEAD THE BALL DOWNWARDS!’
He did just that…only it was ‘too down’…it went straight down and bounced over the bar…what a chance already and only a couple of minutes gone…we continue this assault on the Preston goal…and that’s what it was…an assault. All they could do was batten down the hatches and put everything they had behind the ball….it was only going to be a matter of time before we unleashed hell on em though…they were gonna have it…we were incredible….passing….movement….running for each other…taking players on…it was simply breathtaking at times…
From everyone…Leon…fook me Leon…some of his flicks were incredible…his awareness, his vision…it was excellent. We’d discussed before kick off how it was time Potter stepped his game up and got back to his skilful best…he did…some of the passing and movement between him and Gray was excellent, the slightest movement, outside of the boot...nonchalantly, so simple, so easy...and everyone wanted to be involved…O Connor was unbelievable at times. He never gave them a minute’s peace, if by some chance they got the ball, they didn’t have it long without feeling him snapping at their heels…but we just couldn’t make that final breakthrough…it wasn’t through lack of effort or even shots on target this time…we DID get shots in, they WERE on target, we DID work hard, all over the pitch, but the fookin ball just would not cross the line for us.
Leon had a go…the keeper pulls off a cracking save…Tommy puts an absolutely mint cross into the box, Leon gets on the end…and it STILL WON’T FOOKIN GO OVER THE LINE….Varney from a scramble…NOPE!….Varney from distance…NOPE!
 | Somehow…god only knows how…the ball ended up down our end…there
were protests from Wednesday fans that it had crossed the byline before
it was swung in for the first half of the Balloon Brothers, Mellor, to
nod it home… HOW THE FOOK DID THAT HAPPEN? Ya can bollocks! |
I said ya can fookin bollocks!
 | Calm down....don’t worry…we had literally pissed all over Preston
for 20 minutes and that goal did nothing to stem that piss…we just kept
going…attacking…swarming…oh aye, we're swarming now….swarming piss. JJ….of course JJ…a belly full of confidence and feet afire tonight….he cuts in from our left, he goes forward….I’m staring right down the fookin barrel…shoot JJ….go on son let rip…. HE DID! |
We were on our feet….it was heading straight for us and into the back of the net….IT HITS THE POST!
YOU ARE HAV-
Before we can finish it rebounds straight back to Jayj and he doesn’t break stride…just leathers the fooker straight back where it came from…GOA-
YOU CAN FOOK RIGHT OFF!
Exactly back where it came from, off the post…we were on our feet celebrating a goal and we’d been denied AGAIN!
| They get the ball down our end again but don’t worry….we break like a
team full of Billy Whizz’s….JJ has it wide Des has his little legs
going ten to the dozen, they’re a fookin blurr….and Leon is running as
fast as he possibly can down the middle to keep up…he was like that
rolling boulder on Indiana Jones….we couldn’t make it pay but it was a
lovely picture as JJ was strolling forward whilst O Connor and Leon
were full pelt…. We got a free kick just outside the box shortly afterwards and up stepped the reliable and always impressive Michael Gray to put the peachiest of peachy free kicks into the back of the net… AT LONG FOOKIN LAST! GET IN! |  |
It was 1-1 and as I texted everyone gushing about what we’d seen I got one back from Jonny saying "5-1 wouldn’t have flattered us"….and he was bang on…Preston certainly couldn’t have complained had it been that scoreline.
Still….loads to look forward to second half…more of the same and there’s no way they could stand it for another 45.
Well…that must have been the plan but it just didn’t happen…once again we seemed to ease off.
OK, they’d obviously been told they were still in the game after being totally mullered and there was no way we could keep it up…they were right and they had a bit more purpose about them…they still didn’t look good but we were nowhere near what we were first half…we let them have things too easy and 10 minutes in when Balloon Brother 1 cut the ball back from the left, there was the other Balloon waiting to tap it in…and that’s all it took…a side foot…
He ran towards the kop and slid on his knees celebrating in front of us…milking it….he was fookin loving it…OK, so I gave him some right abuse….I know it's not big and it's not clever but I did....but no matter what…he took it and he loved it even more…his face was a picture…soaking it all up…
 | I love that…I know it’s a bitch that he always kills us…that he loves
winding us up…but I love to have a go at him…he’s my stress doll…my
stress Parkin….they sell em in Argos I think…under Spacehoppers….and he
loves it all…the whole lot. There’s loads to like about a footballer like John Parkin IMO… He isn’t the quickest, he isn’t the most skilful, he IS probably the heaviest though and he just doesn’t get phased by stuff…kudos to him…. I really love the love/hate love relationship with him…he is a lumbering ox…a great big fist of a bloke…he shouldn’t be a footballer…but he is. |
We went close a couple of times in the half, including yet another cleared off the line, but it was effectively over…we never reached the same standard we had first half…they didn’t really bother us either…
The most notable thing for us the second half was the introduction of Franny Jeffers and the boo as he came on, and even louder as his name was called out…I don’t get this at all.
I know fans feel pissed off with him but here we are a goal behind, we fetch a striker on and we make him feel like shit.
What fookin good does that do?
Fair play to Stan when the kop started booing around us he stood up and told them to fook off…asking what good it did…it’s bollocks…Stan is definitely no fan of Jeffers but he knows the effect booing has on players… I applauded Jeffers onto the pitch…but I applaud Stan even more.
When the final whistle went the crowd booed again….
Why?
Because we lost?
Because we were shit?
Because we didn’t put the effort in?
I don’t get it.
At Derby we were dreadful…they didn’t play, they didn’t turn up…the team deserved criticism…this was different…we got the full range from the players.
So we fookin lost.
It hurts…of course it hurts but FFS let’s get some perspective on this…
As far as I’m concerned this game summed up Sheffield Wednesday perfectly at this moment in time.
It showed you exactly why we won’t go up and exactly why we won’t go down…we are sublime…we are shit…and more often than not we’re average…and when we see something like the first 45 tonight…we simply have to savour it…no matter what…as Sir Bobby said…enjoy the game not the prize…I enjoyed the game immensely tonight…EVEN THOUGH we lost.
It was simply one of those nights against one of those teams and for the rest of this season and all of next, Preston will not be taken to the cleaners like they were in that first half
I’m REALLY looking forward to Watford on Friday now.
Cheers
Steve:BeastieOwls Alive
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