Preview: Stevenage (h)

The long trip to Devon bore no fruit,can the Owls show bouncebackability when Stevenage roll into town?

The Owls hoodoo at Exeter continued as the Owls went down at St James Park, with other games being called off it was a golden opportunity missed for us to make ground up on Charlton, to make matters worse Sheffield United came up with a victory to close the gap on us to 1 point with 2 games in hand.

We’re back at Hillsborough though, a place that has seen us yield many positive results this season and we need one more than ever on Tuesday against Gary Smith’s Stevenage side.

All stats come from Soccerbase and Soccernet

Last Home Game	Opposition	Result	Shots	On Target	Corners	Cards	Fouls	Possession
WEDNESDAY	Blackpool	L 0-3	6	3	5	2	5	41%

Last Away Game	Opposition	Result	Shots	On Target	Corners	Cards	Fouls	Possession
STEVENAGE	Scunthorpe	D 1-1	13	5	7	2	12	47%

Last time out at Hillsborough a second string Owls side lost heavily at home to Championship Blackpool in a FA Cup replay, we created a few clear cut chances on the occasions we did attack with Ryan Lowe and Rob Jones forcing Matt Gilks into action, a recurring theme in recent matches though has become the real lack of punch in the Owls attack, add to that a defence that of late has started conceding soft goals and we have a formula for disaster.

Stevenage’s games have been hit by the weather as of late and their last away day was at Scunthorpe on the 21st January! Darius Charles forced an equaliser in the old cliched game of two halves, the first by Scunthorpe,the second by Stevenage.

LAST 5 GAMES	Exeter (a)	Blackpool (h)	Yeovil (h)	MK Dons (a)	Blackpool (a)
Wednesday	L 2-1	L 0-3	W 2-1	D 1-1	D 1-1

LAST 5 GAMES	Notts County (h)	MK Dons (h)	Scunthorpe (a)	Rochdale (a)	Reading (a)
Stevenage	W 1-0	W 4-2	D 1-1	W 1-5	W 0-1

The form guide is disappointing for Wednesday with two successive losses being suffered by the team for the first time since mid-August, 2012 has seen the Owls gain 12 points from 7 games, just below the average 2 points a game target but also at a time where the teams around us have hit a vein of form. Needless to say since the Oldham game in early December one clean sheet has been kept in 10 league games which isn’t really good enough either.

Stevenage on the other hand are bang in form at the moment and will be well rested having not played since advancing to the last 16 of the FA Cup on the 28th January and have lost just twice in 20 games, even losing manager Graham Westley to Preston hasn’t stopped their momentum and a second successive promotion isn’t exactly out of the question, Westley has been replaced by Gary Smith, a former Arsenal scout and a man who has experience of management in Major League Soccer.

HEAD 2 HEAD	WEDNESDAY WINS	STEVENAGE WINS	DRAWS
	0	1	0

LAST MEETING
13th September 2011,Lamex Stadium (Broadhall Way), Att – 4339
Stevenage 5-1 Wednesday
(C Reid 6,J Mousinho 10,M Bostwick 17,L Wilson 38,D Charles 67)(G Madine 74)

I’m sure every single Wednesday fan will want to forget the inaugural meeting between the sides as the Owls were well and truly given a shellacking by a rampant Stevenage side.

Despite the differing histories of the two clubs there’s not a lot between them this season with Stevenage being 12 points behind the Owls with three games in hand

MEGSON’S MOB

Miguel Llera was taken off against Exeter with what looked like a facial injury, he should be back for this one, if not Rob Jones will probably start.

Megson mentioned too many players being in a comfort zone, one of the players I think he meant was Gary Madine who just didn’t look like he was at the races at Exeter, Clinton Morrison or Ryan Lowe may be brought in to replace the misfiring goal machine.

Reda Johnson serves the final game of his suspension.

John Bostock was taken off at half time and replaced with Chris Lines. with the assumption that Bostock picked up a minor knock, Mike Jones could be brought back into the side or maybe Prutton will be pushed out wide with Lines going into the centre should the Tottenham loanee not be available for this one.

Stevenage have an impending FA Cup tie with Tottenham Hotspur so Gary Smith may make a few changes with that game on the horizon, with them not having played for two weeks though his squad should be well rested and ready to go for this one.

 BYWATER

	BUXTON		BATTH		LLERA		BENNETT
	J JOHNSON		PRUTTON		SEMEDO		BOSTOCK
			O’GRADY		MORRISON

KEY PLAYERS – TOP TRUMPS

Jose Semedo has become a fan favourite in his short time at Hillsborough and we need his magic more than ever tonight against a good, organised Stevenage side who have goals in them. At his best the song about him holds true but he also needs help from his midfield companions, he can’t be expected to stop every single attack and be the creator of them. JJ’s played his part in recent games, time for the others to step up to the plate as well.

Michael Bostwick was another non-league find who has adapted quite comfortably to life in League One. The Eltham born midfielder started his career at Crawley Town,having spells at Rushden & Diamonds and Ebbsfleet United before signing for Stevenage in the summer of 2008 becoming a regular in the side. He can also score a piledriver as he showed in the FA Cup against Newcastle last term.

THE BETTING BOX:5 OF THE BEST

BET	Wednesday WIN	Stevenage WIN	DRAW	Morrison 1st Goal	Correct Score 1-1
BEST ODDS	28/29	16/5	5/2	6/1	13/2
BOOKIES

Despite recent form a Wednesday win is priced at 28/29 with 188bet. Stevenage are a good shout at 16/5 with bet365 with the draw being 5/2 at the same firm.

WARNING:Oddschecker has Jermaine Johnson at 25/1 to score the first goal, this is in fact the suspended Reda Johnson. A repeat of the infamous 5-1 scoreline is 425/1 with PaddyPower with Wednesday getting their revenge in the same manner at shorter odds of 100/1 with the same firm.

4 goals or more is 9/4 with Bet365, PaddyPower has Clinton Morrison 13/8 to score anytime, I think I’ll have a bite at that

HERE COMES D-JUDGE

I have a bad feeling about this, part of it’s come from the Exeter result and part of it comes from us being in underwhelming form and Stevenage being red-hot at the minute.

I know some Wednesday fans will be of the thought “It’s only Stevenage” but to underestimate them especially after the first meeting will see us tanked by them again, they’re a good side and have got where they are in the table on merit.

On the other hand Megson will have done his nut about the two sloppy free-kicks we gave away that led to the Exeter goals and he will also have reminded them of the “display” they turned in at Stevenage last September.

He likes to use the fans to motivate the players but the players need something to bring out the best in the fans, we’ve been subdued as of late and we need a win to get us back onside and believing in them with our faith being shaken a bit in the last few weeks.

A win and everything is rosy again in the build up to Chesterfield and Sheffield United.

VERDICT:- Tough, tough game this. I think it’ll be a 1-1 draw.

Danny (D-Good)
Owls Alive
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TWITTER: @OwlsAlive or @DGood83