Preview: Chesterfield (a)

Three straight losses now,can the Owls get out of this blip at Chesterfield?

A frustrating night at Hillsborough saw the Owls undone by an organised Stevenage side and also saw the Owls suffer another defeat as we enter the final third of the season.

We have a chance to shake off our recent bad results with a short journey down the A61 to take on a side with more than one Wednesday link in Chesterfield.

All stats come from Soccerbase and Soccernet

Last Away Game	Opposition	Result	Shots	On Target	Corners	Cards	Fouls	Possession
WEDNESDAY	Exeter	L 2-1	9	4	8	1	15	64%

Last Home Game	Opposition	Result	Shots	On Target	Corners	Cards	Fouls	Possession
CHESTERFIELD	Bournemouth	W 1-0	4	2	4	0	4	47%

Wednesday’s trip to Exeter saw the Owls dominate possession but do precious little with it as few clear cut goalscoring opportunities were created and errors on our part led to the Grecians obtaining the two free-kicks they scored from.

Chesterfield’s last game at the B2Net saw them defeat AFC Bournemouth thanks to a spectacular goal from Liam Ridehalgh, Bournemouth had plenty of opportunities to score before and after the goal but were denied several times by keeper Tommy Lee.

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

LAST 5 GAMES	Bury (a)	Carlisle (a)	Oldham (a)	Bournemouth (h)	Colchester (a)
Chesterfield	D 1-1	L 2-1	W 0-1	W 1-0	W 1-2

Disappointment reigned supreme yet again as the Owls slumped to their third successive defeat. One thing the Owls have struggled to do in recent games is find the net with just 4 goals in the last 5 games, one of them an own goal. Another thing that has become apparent is the Owls becoming reliant on Jermaine Johnson to create or score. More is needed from the rest of the squad at this time to avoid a successful season to date ending in heartbreak for Owls fans.

Chesterfield are near the foot of League One but have had a bit of a revival of late losing just one of the last 6, the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy has proved a welcome distraction this term as the Spireites will go to Wembley later in the season but when it comes to league form it’s been desperate, their victory over Bournemouth being their first at home since mid-September and with just 24 points secured to date, improvement is needed for the Spireites to avoid an instant return to League Two.

HEAD 2 HEAD	WEDNESDAY WINS	CHESTERFIELD WINS	DRAWS
	12	11	11

LAST MEETING
8th October 2011,Hillsborough, Att – 24514
Wednesday 3-1 Chesterfield
(L Buxton 17,G Madine 59,B Marshall 87)(L Clarke 79)

Despite the short distance between Sheffield and Chesterfield, meetings haven’t exactly been a common occurence between the two sides, Wednesday’s victory at Hillsborough earlier in the season was the first Hillsborough triumph over the Spireites since a Rodger Wylde brace, Brian Hornsby and Jeff Johnson saw Jack Charlton’s men 4-0 victors in front of 12960 in April 1979.

Our last visit to Chesterfield came in February 2005 as a Steve Maclean double and Lee Peacock saw the Owls go 3-0 up at Saltergate before Mark De Bolla netted a late consolation.

This is the Owls’ first visit to the B2Net stadium, hopefully it won’t end up the same way as the Owls’ other visit to new territory this season!

MEGSON’S MOB

This is a big game for us and I get the feeling that after another loss Megson will tinker with the line-up again.

He’s boosted by the return of Reda Johnson and I expect him to be recalled straight away, otherwise he’ll be hoping Miguel Llera has shaken off his concussion otherwise Rob Jones will continue.

John Bostock may be available after missing Stevenage with a virus and may be brought back in on the flanks with Mike Jones being another option and maybe even David Prutton if Megson decides to stick with Lines and Semedo in the middle of the park.

Gary Madine has taken some flak as of late from the supporters and his substitution saw him jeered off the pitch by a portion of the Hillsborough faithful. Madine has struggled since his return from injury and some have called for Ryan Lowe to slot in alongside O’Grady. Lowe has not even been in the 16 for the last couple of games with injury so if Madine is dropped, Clinton Morrison will start.

 BYWATER

	BUXTON		BATTH		R JONES		R JOHNSON
	J JOHNSON		PRUTTON		SEMEDO		M JONES
			O’GRADY		MORRISON

KEY PLAYERS – TOP TRUMPS

Lewis Buxton has returned to the side in recent weeks after injury but has looked uncharacteristically out of sorts since his return. He’s been asked to play in midfield and at left back but hasn’t really been used in his primary position. For him to thrive like he did earlier in the season he quite simply has to return at right back. Although not the most prolific of goalscorers he has managed to get on the scoresheet this season and has chipped in with a couple of assists as well.

Drew Talbot is a name that will be familiar to every single Wednesdayite, his cameo off the bench saw him make the Owls’ victory over Hartlepool absolutely certain as he rounded the keeper and slotted home the fourth goal. Since then injury problems have ravaged his career and he missed the entire 05/06 season as a result. He departed Hillsborough in January 2007 to join Luton Town but the Hatters’ financial problems saw his career there scuppered, he joined Chesterfield on loan in January 2009 before making the move permanent that summer, now used more as a winger or on some occasions a full back Talbot still has pace about him and the ability to deliver a decent cross, something that could cause our full backs problems.

THE BETTING BOX:5 OF THE BEST

BET	Wednesday WIN	Chesterfield WIN	DRAW	R Johnson 1st Goal	Correct Score 2-1
BEST ODDS	23/20	13/5	5/2	25/1	8/1
BOOKIES

Chandlers is the place to go for your Win/Loss/Draw odds with them offering the best price in each category. 23/20 for an Owls win, 13/5 for the Spireites and 5/2 for the draw.

Reda is as ever a tempting 25/1 bet for the first goal with Coral and 8/1 to score anytime with the same firm with JJ who has been on fire recently 13/5 anytime also with Coral.

The old favourite 4 or more goals is 2/1 with bet365 and with both teams having leaky defences the both teams to score bet at 4/6 with bet365 isn’t a bad shout.

I fancy us in the half time/full time stakes this week though and you can have us to lead at half time and go on to win at 13/5 with 188bet.

HERE COMES D-JUDGE

Despite recent results it isn’t all doom and gloom as despite our form we are still 3rd in the league and we still have everything to play for with the Blades coming to Hillsborough next week.

John Sheridan will have Chesterfield up for this one and we as a team need to cut out the sloppy errors that have led to goals in recent games, stuff like needless fouls and bad communication between the keeper and defence have to stop. If we can assert authority in the midfield and go ahead early on, we can stifle them.

We also need to be able to break down defences, it might be an easier proposition here as more onus will be on the home team to attack but we need to have more about us than either pass it to JJ or hoof and hope.

This result could be a massive indicator of where our season is destined to go.

VERDICT:- I’ve had my fingers burnt with confident predictions but I still think we’ll win here. 2-1 Wednesday.

Danny (D-Good)
Owls Alive
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