With the focus very much on referees lately, Darren Drysdale is the match official - the 41year old RAF Sergeant from Lincolnshire. Only 30 seconds after the opening whistle, Michail Antonio sets free and fires a shot at visiting goalkeeper Robert Olejnik, which is easily saved. The opening exchanges are somewhat scrappy and chances don't come cleanly. Understandably neither side wanting to lose to a team down at the bottom with them. Olejnik is next tested on the 8th minute by Jay Bothroyd, which again is saved by the goalkeeper. A spate of scrappy free kicks both ways follows before the always dangerous George Boyd fashions Peterboroughs first chance, which sees Chris Kirkland make the save to keep the teams level. Everton-loanee Ross Barkley, impressive in recent weeks, then forces a corner when he sees his shot saved by Olejnik. Bothroyd crosses the 12th minute corner well only for Miguel Llera to head harmlessly over the crossbar. A good chance for Wednesday. Only 3 minutes later and the Owls have another corner, again taken by Bothroyd and again headed over by Llera from deep inside the area. The next chance for either side takes 5 minutes to manufacture and it falls to the home side, Chris O'Grady holding the ball up well before rasping a shot wide of the left post. With barely 24mins on the clock, Wednesday get forced into an early change as it seems midfield dynamo Paul Corry has taken a knock and is replaced by Rhys McCabe - himself returning from injury. Barkley picks up the games first caution and sees yellow for a foul on Kgosi Ntlhe. The free kick sets a move in place seeing Nathanial Knight-Percival feeding Ntlhe who crosses for Michael Bostwick to take a shot, Kirkland making the save again. Almost half an hour in and Jose Semedo blocks down a Lee Tomlin shot to cheers from the Wednesday faithful. Lee Tomlin does well to earn a corner from Daniel Jones and the Grant McCann delivery is dealt with by Bothroyd on the near post. The 37th minute sees Peterborough on the offensive, firstly a Tomlin effort on goal is blocked by Anthony Gardner and secondly Bostwick launches over the bar. As the half time whistle approaches to end a dull first half, Peterborough earn a corners and the in swinger by McCann again fails to beat Bothroyd. The whistle is finally blown just after O'Grady finds space in the box but lifts it high over the bar.
HT. Wow what a dull first 45! Understandably both teams are cautious after the upturn in results for both but more effort is needed. Just a hot chocolate for the half time snack - a Cadburys Fudge one!
The second half starts with a bang! With 11 seconds on the watch, Wednesday take the lead when Ross Barkley hammers a right-footed rocket into the top right hand corner from inside the box, on the angle. A fantastic strike from Evertons prospect, gratefully loaned to the Owls...1-0! Barely 3mins later and Bothroyd could have doubled the lead, squeezing his shot over the bar instead. Kirkland is forced into claiming a looping cross by Mark Little as the visitors attempt a comeback. The second booking comes on the 55th when Bostwick needlessly fouls O'Grady and Kirkland can lump the ball forward. Nothing comes of the move upfield - in fact another scrappy period ensues and the next action comes from a Bostwick right footed shot in the 67th minute, which goes harmlessly wide. This break in play sees O'Grady replaced by Gary Madine, keen to find his goal scoring touch again. Antonio forged his own chance on goal after beating his man for pace, advancing into the box and shooting just wide of the post a a let off for the Posh. The 75th minute sees Darren Fergusons Peterborough go 2-0 down when fan favourite Llera heads home an Antonio cross, scooped with the outside if his boot beautifully. The Spaniard drops to both knees and starts pumping his fists before running to the fans kissing the badge on his shirt. That's the passion we love to see! The second goal proves invaluable when only minutes later, the Posh get one back after Boyd lashes home with a goal from deep inside the penalty box to the right hand corner of the goal. With that goal the away fans see their team press for the equaliser - and a spate of free kicks sees dangerous opportunity for that to come. Each one gets dealt with by the Wednesday back line and defence quickly turns to offence when the Owls force a corner. The away back line this time defend it well but can do nothing about Llera finding space to fire a low drive well saved by Olejnik. On the 89th Jermaine Johnson enters the fray replacing Bothroyd, who is carrying an Achilles knock. The 5minutes of added time pass incident free and Sheffield Wednesday claim all 3 points, moving out of the bottom three in the process.
FT. A scrappy but efficient game which saw the desired result. Semedo did brilliantly closing down Posh attacks and Barkley again put a solid performance in. Hopefully Corry's knock isn't too bad.
Attendance: 22,406
Man of the Match: Semedo
(photos by BBC Sport & SWFC)
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