The first action of the game came with barely 90 seconds on the clock as a trademark Michail Antonio run saw him upended in the box unfairly, as Antonio bounced back up to regain control and fire a shot off, screams for a penalty were waved away by the referee.
Antonio's deflected shot resulted in a corner only and as is the norm lately, a poor set piece followed as Wolves' keeper Ikeme claimed the ball in easily. Minutes later, Chris O'Grady saw his shot ripple the side netting after a good delivery from Antonio. Wednesday have started brightly and Wolves keep giving the ball away allowing the visitors to push up and on the occasions Wolves do break, Jose Semedo is there to break up any move. The home side do fashion a chance on the 7th minute, when the impressive Kevin Doyle fires a shot over the bar after capitalising on a slip up by the travelling team. As the Wanderers gradually wake up, Anthony Gardner does well to head the ball away for a corner from a Sylvan Ebanks-Blake whipped cross. The resulting corner is defended well and cleared. The Owls next big chance comes when Antonio crosses a perfect ball into the box towards O'Grady, but the hitman misses his diving header by mere millimetres, any contact there and the net would have bulged. On the 14th minute Wolves are forced into an early change, seeing Boukhari replaced by Polish international Peszko. After Chris Kirkland collects a Doyle cross and launches a Wednesday attack, Jay Bothroyd gets fouled from behind resulting in a yellow for Cristophe Berra. The ball in causes panic in the home box as Ikeme drops the initial ball in but just before O'Grady can pounce the keeper claims the second ball. Wolves force a couple of corners after good defending by Gardner and Martin Taylor but Wednesday clear their lines well. The dangerous Bakary Sako fires a warning shot as a 35yard thunderbolt is brilliantly tipped over by Kirkland and a goal kick is wrongly given. Doyle then fires a long shot inches wide as Semedo misses out with an interception, another let off. During the summer, Wednesday were linked to Wolves defender Roger Johnson and he gets involved on the half hour mark when he clears a ball and throws himself to the floor - punching the grass in apparent pain. The awarded corner sees Nejc Pecnik whip a ball in and before Semedo can fire a shot away he is fouled. Surprisingly Ebanks-Blake gets away with just a warning as Ross Barkley fires the free kick into the top tier. Emergency right-back for the day, Jermaine Johnson gives away a cheap free-kick on the edge of the box for a foul on Doyle. Sako takes a quick free-kick, hitting the ball wide of an open goal - only to be flashed a yellow card for not waiting for the referee. The retake has the same man drive a low powerful shot through the poorly assembled wall and Wolves take the lead 2mins before the break. The half ends with Wolves on top & Wednesday shell-shocked.
HT. Wednesday are putting a decent performance in but need to close down quicker when not in possession. A coffee and a cookie flavoured KitKat make up the half time snack.
When Sheffield Wednesday eventually take to the field after making Wolves wait, the first chance of the half comes when Doyle turns J.Johnson inside out and crosses for Ebanks-Blake, fortunately for the Owls he fires wide. Wednesday attack immediately and only inches separate Bothroyd from connecting with Antonios cross deep inside the Wolves area. 58mins in and Wednesday still aren't doing enough off the ball work, as is evident when Dave Jones screams at his players after seeing nobody go to meet Antonios cross, leaving Ikeme an easy catch. Joe Mattock does well to block a Doyle shot on goal as Wanderers press for a second and the block quickly turns into a counter attack. The resulting move sees Bothroyd have a deflected shot and a corner awarded. As is the general way for Wednesday, the corner is poor and Nejc Pecnik fires the ball over every player in the box, Ross Barkley meets it outside of the 18yard box and after beating his man, drags a shot wide. The away fans see their team pressing and as Roger Johnson clears an Antonio cross, Wolves boss Stale Solbakken screams at his players to up their game. Charged by their managers words, Wolves push on and Peszko dribbles past Mattock at speed and his great run ends with a wild shot that, disappointingly for him, hits the corner flag. Danny Mayor replaces Nejc Pecnik. On the 68th minute, Barkley start a driving run and after beating his man, Karl Henry tracks back well to tackle and setup a counter attack of their own. The attack gets halted with stand-in right back J.Johnson conceding a corner. Wolves take a page out of Wednesdays set-piece book and it's a poor corner by Sako. The £3m signing from St Etienne then has chance to make amends as he powers past the same Owls defender and forces another corner. The ball goes over everybody but Ebanks-Blake at the back has his shot blocked away to safety. Wolves push for a second goal to see the game off and a Peszko ball in to Sako gets fired into the side netting much to the relief of the Owls fans. As Bothroyd makes way for Rodri, boos and jeers from the away fans are aimed at the QPR loanee (much to the disgust of this blogger!). The Spaniard is unable to give the fans something to cheer about when a promising move ends with his mis-control. When Kirkland catches a Sako free kick, he sets in place a quick attack, seeing Antonio fire a long shot in and Foley tackling Rodri before he can get a meaningful rebound shot away - they've been good at that, closing down all game. On the 86th minute, Mattock finds a way into the box and Rodri sees his effort cleared by R.Johnson - who then feigns injury hoping to run the clock down. Even his own team mates keep the ball in play rather than put it out and seeing this, Johnson quickly gets to his feet after seemingly being in agony. As the 90th minute closes in, Antonio has a driving run into the Wolves box, with no defender dare touch him he sees his shot deflected for a corner. If there ever was a time for a good set-piece this was it ... it doesn't beat the first man. 'Oh when the Wolves go marching in' fills Molineux Stadium and is only stopped for an all round applause for the substitution. Doyle is replaced by former Wednesday loanee, Danny Batth and the away fans applaud him onto the pitch as the home fans applaud Doyle off it. Wolves close the game out with no real danger and Wednesday whimper to another defeat at the full time whistle.
Attendance: 23,591
Owls Man of Match: Michail Antonio
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