Megson hoping for FA Cup relief for struggling Owls

Tuesday’s 3-0 loss at Tranmere means the Owls have extended their winless run to nine League One matches.

Their only victories since beating Bristol Rovers in early December have been in the FA Cup, including an impressive 3-0 win at Bristol City.

Now Megson is hoping his 150-1 outsiders can cause the shock of the fifth round by beating Birmingham City at St Andrew’s on Saturday.

On league form, Wednesday do not stand a chance, their victory drought having seen a promotion campaign turn into a relegation dogfight.

Never mind Megson waiting for his first win, Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Tranmere Rovers means owner Milan Mandaric is still waiting to taste victory since he bought the club in mid-December.

But Megson believes Wednesday’s underdog status, and all the pressure on Premier League Birmingham, means he can go to St Andrews with confidence.

“Saturday is a help because it’s against a Premiership club, away from home, with absolutely no expectation on us,” said Megson. “It keeps us away from the league for a while.”

With Wednesday having dropped to 16th in League One, just five points off fourth-from-bottom Swindon Town, that position could deteriorate at the weekend with the Owls on FA Cup duty.

Megson added: “Other people will be playing, but what we are going to find is if we keep getting these results we are going to keep dropping down the league table and the pressure will become more intense.

“We will continue to work hard and keep plugging away on the training ground, that is the only way.”

Tuesday’s defeat was the second of five successive away matches in February for Wednesday, and while Megson is desperate for a Hillsborough match to try to secure his first win, he has told his players they must take fans’ criticism on the chin.

Like at Rochdale on Saturday, Wednesday sold out their ticket allocation at Tranmere, but as the game petered out, disgruntled supporters turned on the players with chants of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’.

“We have just got to keep plugging away,” said Megson. “We have got to take the stick that is coming our way, and deservedly so. We have been battered 3-0, but we have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. We have had stick from our people behind the goal – and that’s understandable.

“We are desperate to get back to Hillsborough (Wednesday’s next three games are away to Birmingham, Bournemouth and Carlisle), but we aint got that and we have to accept what’s in front of us.

“I thought that we were the better side for an hour, without playing champagne football, and then we didn’t step up to the mark and it’s 1-0. We were on top, but we didn’t score when we had the chances.”

Two goals in five minutes, sandwiching the red card to Giles Coke for a mis-timed challenge on John Welsh, changed the course of the match.

“The sending-off did us no favours and after that we did not defend a bouncing ball in the penalty area and you cannot do that,” Megson said. “If anyone was going to score after the first 15 minutes of the first half I thought it was going to be us.

“The tackle wasn’t technically the best but maybe it was harsh because there were other tackles out there that were very similar. But we allowed them to score from the resulting free-kick.

“For the first hour we have done well, the goalkeeper has had nothing to do, but they get a throw-in and we take a liberty in defending it and it’s cost us the game.”

Megson never got to Wembley as an Owls player; the closest he came was two semi-final defeats in the Eighties.

In 1983 he captained the Owls in their 5-0 quarter-final win over Burnley at Hillsborough, before losing 2-1 to Brighton at Highbury.

Three years later, in his second spell as a player at Hillsborough, he was on the end of the same scoreline as Wednesday lost at Villa Park to one of Megson’s former clubs Everton.

Megson made five changes at Tranmere and will be forced into a minimum of two changes for the Birmingham tie.

Gary Madine is cup tied having played for former club Carlisle in the competition, while Coke is suspended.