Poll: Sheffield Weds 0 Bournemouth 2: Defeated Owls still unable to find any firepower

BOURNEMOUTH’S players were recently pictured with Yorkshire-based children’s entertainers The Chuckle Brothers at a team hotel – and how they enjoyed another barrel of laughs at Hillsborough last night.
Sheffield Wednesdays Jacques Maghoma duels with Bournemouths Matt Ritchie (Picture: Steve Ellis).Sheffield Wednesdays Jacques Maghoma duels with Bournemouths Matt Ritchie (Picture: Steve Ellis).
Sheffield Wednesdays Jacques Maghoma duels with Bournemouths Matt Ritchie (Picture: Steve Ellis).

Unfortunately, the scowls all belonged to the Owls, with their increasingly worrying autumnal form continuing.

Their winless streak has extended to nine matches on a raw evening which saw Royston Drenthe red-carded on the hour.

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Millions will celebrate Bonfire Night tonight, but the Owls, with just one win now from eight Championship home games this term, have seen their flames doused of late, with their best start to a season since 1990-91 becoming a flickering memory.

Sheffield Wednesdays Jacques Maghoma duels with Bournemouths Matt Ritchie (Picture: Steve Ellis).Sheffield Wednesdays Jacques Maghoma duels with Bournemouths Matt Ritchie (Picture: Steve Ellis).
Sheffield Wednesdays Jacques Maghoma duels with Bournemouths Matt Ritchie (Picture: Steve Ellis).

The night belonged to the Cherries, now top of the Championship on goal difference ahead of Middlesbrough – who they visit on Saturday – after their ninth win in their past 10 outings in all competitions.

Eddie Howe’s side are riding the crest of a south-coast wave.

Going back to pre-season, even before the Owls’ impressive opening to the campaign, head coach Stuart Gray stressed the importance of solid home form to his side’s seasonal hopes.

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Lamentable runs of form at Hillsborough have flared up sporadically over the years, as many Wednesdayites probably do not need reminding, and it has reared its ugly head in a big way again, with last night’s events viewed by a season-low league crowd of 16,881.

Almost 12 months to the day, the Owls claimed their first home league win of 2013-14 in an outstanding and thoroughly uplifting 5-2 success over Reading.

But they were found wanting on the inspiration front last night on home soil, where supporters have seen them net just three times in eight league matches.

Once Drenthe departed, it was a case of fearing the worst against opponents chasing their sixth successive league win and third Championship away victory, their previous one being an 8-0 mauling of Birmingham.

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Five minutes after the Dutchman’s dismissal on the hour, Andrew Surman fired in a cultured opener and it was game over on 69 minutes when substitute Ryan Fraser, with virtually his first touch, emphatically fired home.

As preparations go for Saturday’s South Yorkshire derby with Rotherham United, it was just what the Owls did not want, with pressure on their shoulders as they seek a morale-boosting tonic ahead of the next international break.

Without a goal in almost four and a half playing hours at S6, the onus was firmly on the Owls to make things happen at the start, something to which Gray had alluded. What he saw in the first half were intermittent moments of attacking assertion, mainly through the off-the-cuff talents of Jacques Maghoma and Drenthe, but nothing truly sustained and convincing.

A couple of long-range sighters from Drenthe, fresh from his polished strike at Charlton, were comfortably dealt with by Artur Boruc, with Wednesday’s best moments belonging to Maghoma.

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One swerving strike, parried by Boruc, briefly enlivened the crowd, and a purposeful run and shot wide was also appreciated, but it was all rather cursory from the hosts.

Aside from that, it was the visitors who looked the more able, complete with an easy-on-the-eye passing style.

But fortunately for the Owls, the Cherries lacked the cutting edge which had reaped a harvest of 14 goals in their previous three matches.

Callum Wilson flicked a header wide and lacked composure with another chance, with his best opportunity just after the half-hour mark seeing him shoot straight at Kieren Westwood when given a very presentable sight of goal by Simon Francis.

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Westwood then proved his mettle to turn away a goalbound effort from Matt Ritchie close to the interval in a half in which the Cherries looked semi-threatening, without really hitting their straps.

A frustrating half it may have been for home fans, but at least there was no deficit to negotiate, with the Owls, attacking the Kop, knocking on the door a few minutes in when Tom Lees’s looping header clipped the top of the bar before landing on the netting following Drenthe’s flag-kick.

Ten minutes into the second half, the hosts suffered a let-off when Brett Pitman slipped in 11-goal Wilson, but with plenty of goal to aim at, his predatory instincts again failed him when he fired a fierce angled shot off target.

A far from vintage night then took a significant turn for the worse for the Owls when Drenthe – cautioned in the first period for a foul – incurred the wrath of Mike Dean who handed him his second yellow for an ill-timed challenge on Pugh.

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The Cherries soon applied salt to the wound when Surman stroked home a lovely opener after neat play from Wilson.

The forward then set up Fraser to seal a fine evening, for the visitors at any rate.

Sheffield Wednesday: Westwood; Palmer, Lees, Loovens, Helan; Maguire, Lee (Dielna 78), Coke, Maghoma (May 67); Drenthe; Nuhiu. Unused substitutes: Kirkland, Semedo, Taylor-Fletcher, McCabe, Young.

Bournemouth: Boruc; Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels; Ritchie (Fraser 67), Surman; Arter, Pugh; Pitman (Kermorgant 66), Wilson (Rantie 67). Unused substitutes: Camp, Gosling, Harte, Smith.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral).