Sheffield Wednesday 2 Millwall 2: New faces vital to lift Owls as Jones loses patience

The Owls looked to have finally triumphed at the fifth time of asking this season against fellow strugglers Millwall on Saturday, only for Andy Keogh to convert an 87th-minute penalty to earn a draw.

Wednesday had started shockingly, Richard Chaplow being denied by Chris Kirkland in the opening minute from point-blank range before Kamil Zayatte conceded a fifth-minute own goal.

The hosts hit back to equalise via Reda Johnson and take the lead through Jeremy Helan before the half-hour mark but then failed to capitalise on several golden chances before Chaplow got the wrong side of Helan in the area and induced a foul for the late penalty.

It left the 20,000 Owls crowd yet to witness a victory for Jones’s side this campaign and they are desperate for new signings to inject some much-needed attacking quality before next Monday’s transfer window closes.

Frustrated Jones believes some of his Owls players are failing to perform and could be sidelined or shipped out if he can wheel and deal in the transfer market, with a striker and creative midfielder top of his wish list.

“The players that are here still have an opportunity,” he said. “Let’s not kid ourselves, they still have an opportunity to stake their claim.

“Then if I have to bring players in. It’s no good them knocking on my door saying, ‘why aren’t I playing?’ This is their opportunity.

“One or two need to take that. One or two aren’t playing as well as they should be.

“It’s not effort, nobody means to go out on the pitch and not do well. Maybe we just switch off, like the penalty. We just get caught on the wrong side and those are the things we need to brush up on.

“We need to move some of the senior players out, the ones on bigger money, so we can bring in players of the same wages.

“We aren’t playing well, we have to accept that, the players have to accept that.

“We aren’t closing down in midfield, we’re getting caught. We looked a little bit lethargic but if things aren’t going well you have to dig in.

“We need a little bit of help and we know that. But we just have to hang in there until we get players in.”

Wednesday should have won at a canter but were denied by a combination of poor finishing and some strange decisions by referee Stuart Attwell.

Twice after the break, Wednesday were left feeling aggrieved by the official.

Michail Antonio was sent tumbling to the ground by goalkeeper Stephen Bywater – making his first return to Hillsborough after a summer move to Millwall – only for Attwell to wave away claims for a penalty, and a subsequent red card for Bywater, who had been left exposed by his former team-mate’s pace.

Then Bywater came through a crowd of players to try to take a cross, only to drop the ball at Johnson’s feet and see it swiftly hammered into the net.

“Stephen Bywater clattered his own player – we haven’t hit him – and he drops it and we stick it in the back of the net,” said Jones. “For some reason the referee deems that a foul against their goalkeeper; I don’t understand that.

“We just have to keep digging, keep going and wait for that little bit of help.

“The players are better than what they showed because we proved that in other games.

“Nobody really played well, everybody seemed to have an off day.”

Both sides had struggled to win in their six Championship games previously, and the two defences started poorly, resulting in two goals in the first eight minutes.

First, Zayatte netted an own goal after being caught out by Lee Martin’s cross.

Then Bywater was at fault when he failed to meet a cross from Lewis Buxton and left-back Reda Johnson – making his first start of the season after injury – headed home.

The Owls looked threatening going forward and took the lead when Helan flashed a 22-yard drive low into Bywater’s left-hand corner, after good hold-up play from Atdhe Nuhiu.

Millwall were forced to play the first 45 minutes in Wednesday’s away kit from last season after they forgot to bring their strip with them. It arrived at half-time, meaning they reverted to their orange kit for the second half.

After spending all last term looking to get the Owls No 1 jersey off Kirkland, it was a little ironic to see Bywater donning that shirt at last.

The 32-year-old was later to be involved in those two controversial moments but kept his side in the match in the first 45 minutes with an instinctive save to deny Johnson a second goal. Nuhiu saw his header crash back off a post and Johnson failed to make a clean connection with the follow-up, allowing Bywater the chance to poke the ball away from danger.

The Owls – who lost Buxton at half-time with a hamstring injury – were punished late on for sitting deeper and deeper, inviting the visitors to deliver a sucker punch through Keogh’s penalty.

“It doesn’t matter if was a penalty or not, we have got the wrong side and haven’t recovered,” said Jones.

“You can’t do that at this level because you will be punished.

“We had the highs in the game when we scored twice in the first half and we have finished the game on a real low.

“We have to make sure we see the game out. We have had the chances, and ultimately we have cost ourselves the points.

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t close the game because we are better than that.”

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Sheffield Wednesday: Kirkland, Buxton (Semedo 46), Gardner, Zayatte, R Johnson, Palmer, Prutton, Coke (Lavery 90) Helan, Antonio, Nuhui (Maguire 67). Unused substitutes: Davies, McCabe, Maghoma, Llera.

Millwall: Bywater, Dunne, Lowry (Robinson 46), Derry (N’Guessan 70), Shittu, Beevers, Chaplow, Bailey, McDonald, Keogh, Martin (Feeney 56). Unused substitutes: Marshall, Abdou, Woolford, Smith.

Referee: S Attwell (Warwicks).