Sheffield Wednesday 2 Yeovil Town 1: Ice cool Johnson turns up the heat at Hillsborough

Failure to qualify for the African Cup of Nations means the Benin international is busy playing his football in Yorkshire during the coldest part of the English season.

Not that the Sheffield Wednesday defender is complaining. Not one bit. For every cloud has a silver lining.

It might even be argued that Johnson is having a better time in the snow than he would in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

After all, who wants to go all the way over there to simply lose in stadia that have been, at times, virtually empty, when instead, you can be scoring winning goals at a noisy Hillsborough and playing in the FA Cup.

There were just 10 minutes to go on Saturday against Yeovil when Johnson found the net and lifted the Owls back into second place in the League One table.

His goal could prove invaluable in terms of securing promotion but Johnson is also targeting a trip to Everton in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The Owls host Blackpool tomorrow night in a fourth-round replay with the winners destined for Goodison Park.

Missing out on Africa suddenly doesn’t feel so bad.

“I am very happy right now,” said Johnson. “I want to play a big part in the team’s success this season.

“We are playing every Tuesday and Saturday and it is a hard time with a lot of games.

“But every time we play, we are looking for three points and I hope we can win every game.

“The FA Cup is also very important to me,” he stressed. “It is a big, famous competition and every footballer wants to play in the FA Cup final.

“If we can beat Blackpool, we play Everton, which is a big Premier League club and it would be a great experience for all the players.

“And if we win, all my family and friends will be able to watch me on television back home.”

The only thing making Johnson unhappy right now is referees.

He still hasn’t forgiven Darren Deadman for awarding Blackpool a controversial stoppagetime penalty and, on Saturday, he was booked in a case of mistaken identity by Mike Brown.

“I told the referee that it was David Prutton who took the player’s legs – not me – but it’s like that sometimes.

“I am now on nine bookings and there is no way I will be able to go for the rest of the season without getting another yellow card.

“If I take a yellow against Blackpool I will be banned for games against Stevenage and Exeter.”

Even more significantly, he will not be banned for games against local rivals Chesterfield and Sheffield United immediately after those two fixtures.

The importance of Saturday’s win cannot be under-estimated as it lifted the Owls above Huddersfield Town who dropped points against promotion rivals Milton Keynes Dons.

Yeovil, who had won two games out of four since the return of former manager Gary Johnson, took the lead just before the break when striker Jonathan Obika latched onto a pass from Ryan Dickson and tapped the ball wide of goalkeeper Stephen Bywater.

The smell of disappointment was hanging in the air but things improved when Owls manager Gary Megson sent on substitutes Lewis Buxton and Ryan Lowe.

The Yeovil net was soon bulging as Jermaine Johnson rifled a stunning 25-yard shot past Sam Walker.

Both Reda Johnson and Chris O’Grady missed the target as the Owls, inspired by the performance of winger Jermaine Johnson, began to take flight.

When Yeovil defender Bondz N’Gala committed a foul in the centre of the pitch it allowed Buxton to send in a free-kick which caused panic.

Clinton Morrison’s initial header was saved by Walker but there was no stopping Reda Johnson’s follow-up effort from close range.

Owls manager Megson admitted afterwards that his side had blown hot and cold but insisted they deserved the victory.

“In the first half, it didn’t look like the Sheffield Wednesday side we’ve been used to seeing so far this season at S6,” he said.

“The second half was much more like it and certainly had to be to pull that result out of the fire.

“The first half probably went with the weather and how cold it was and we just didn’t do anything to light the place up. I thought we wasted 45 minutes,” added Megson.

Captain Rob Jones will be recalled for tomorrow’s game in the absence of cup-tied centre-back Miguel Llera.

Megson also revealed that he has spoken with chairman Milan Mandaric and indicated that there is no immediate need for further strengthening in the transfer market.

Recent signing Mike Jones had not even been able to get on the substitutes bench for Saturday’s game nor Rob Jones, the club captain.

Goalkeeper Nicky Weaver was replaced on the bench by Richard O’Donnell because of a back injury.