Turf battle can kick-start Wednesday’s season, hopes O’Grady

WHEN Charlie Austin completed his second hat-trick of the season by stepping inside a Martin Taylor challenge and firing low into the bottom corner of Chris Kirkland’s net, Sheffield Wednesday’s otherwise noisy travelling army of fans were momentarily silenced.

Just six minutes remained of what had been an epic War of the Roses clash at Turf Moor and Burnley had taken the lead for the third time that night.

With the Owls having made the trip across the Pennines on the back of a six game losing run, the 2,000 or so visiting fans could have been forgiven for feeling as miserable as the weather in East Lancashire had been all day.

Salvation, however, lay less than two minutes away with Wednesday salvaging a deserved point courtesy of a spectacular finish from Michail Antonio.

To Chris O’Grady, whose two goals earlier in the evening had twice pegged the Clarets back, the equaliser was more than welcome.

Not only did it mean Wednesday would be able to go into Saturday’s all-Yorkshire clash with Hull City at Hillsborough having ended the demoralising run that had brought six straight defeats in September.

But, O’Grady believes, Antonio’s late strike means the foundations have now been laid for a concerted push up the Championship table.

“I was pleased to score two goals but the main thing was the result,” said the striker who took his tally for the season to five with his brace on Tuesday night.

“I went off at 2-2 and with ten minutes to go I thought we’d be fine in closing the game out.

“But then we went 3-2 down and there was a bit of despair. So, to show the character we did to get back into it was great. We were very pleased at the end.

“Ending the run was massive. September was a nightmare. I am glad to see the back of it. So, it is great to start this month with a positive result.

“I want to be able to look back on September come the end of the season and be able to say we got past such a nightmare month.”

Wednesday’s defending may have been questionable at times on Tuesday night, most noticeably when Austin was left unmarked to score his first two goals with close range headers after being picked out by Kieran Trippier.

But their attacking play at Turf Moor was outstanding with Jones clearly having sent his side out to attack at every opportunity.

O’Grady played as a lone frontman with Jay Bothroyd on the right of midfield and Antonio on the left ordered to get forward as often as possible when the Owls were in possession.

The upshot was Wednesday asking serious questions of a Burnley defence that has now conceded 18 goals, the highest tally in the Championship.

Leading the attack was a responsibility O’Grady relished as he found the net for the first time since the opening day draw at Derby County.

He said: “I will play wherever the manager wants me to play but I do enjoy being down the middle. I enjoy that responsibility of retaining the ball up there and bringing people into play.

“I am just pleased to get on the pitch. Personally, when you go on a bad run you want to give your all to the manager. Things have been up and down a bit (this season) but I now have three goals in the Championship. I feel comfortable and now want to carry it on. The Burnley game was an enjoyable one to play in. We had identified what has been going wrong and enjoyed putting that right.

“We would like to tighten up a bit as we are giving goals away too often. But our overall performance was pleasing.

“To get back to where we want to be, it isn’t always about picking up a big win.

“It is about setting the foundations to build on and that is what we did at Burnley. We didn’t quite get the result on Saturday at Wolves despite playing well. The manager has been good throughout. By rights and results, he could be slaughtering everyone. But that is not the right thing to do. He has got us going in the right way.”

On Saturday, Wednesday host a Hull City side whose early surge of form has given way to three straight defeats.